TEACHING ENGINEERING TO INCREASE MOTIVATION

Mathematics and physics receive the greatest attention during the early years of the engineering curriculum. This, unfortunately. does not breed the confidence necessary for engineering students to solve real-world problems, and can lead to a gradual erosion of the motivation necessary to complete the engineering degree. Motivation in students can be increased by introducing design in the formative stages of the engineering program. Selected design problems should have an unstructured component that compels the students to search for information and obtain an increased awareness of the relationship of engineering to other fields of knowledge. Design problems should be closely linked to laboratory experiments that have been carefully chosen to give students a balanced perception of the significance and meaning of the simplifications inherent in mathematical treatments of engineering systems. Students capable of grasping a broad picture of engineering (in the context of working on laboratory projects) accrue many important benefits. These include an appreciation of the nature and limitations of engineering as well as an increased knowledge of how to think as an engineer. The by-products of this are burgeoning confidence and continued motivation to develop the skills to be a good engineer.