Chapter 16 Authentic Engineering Assignments for an Undergraduate Vibration Laboratory Class James P. De Clerck and Jean S. De Clerck Abstract Authentic problem-solving experiences were used for a three-lab sequence on vibrations, offered as part of a required course for all mechanical engineering students at Michigan Tech, in order to guide undergraduates in building problem solving abilities. The sequence covers free-vibration, forced vibrations and tuned absorbers. In previous delivery of this course, a generic single degree of freedom test structure with no physical connection to a real-world application was used for all three activities. These initial lab activities guided the students through a process of gathering and interpreting measurements with little application of these engineering skills for solving realistic engineering problems. The authors added context to assignments by simulating an engineering problem to be solved and requiring that the students frame their report as a recommendation to an engineering decision-maker (i.e. Chief Engineer). Students are held accountable for making specific recommendations and supporting their recommendations with simulation and test results. Most students claim that they enjoy this experience more than traditional lab activities and that the use of context motivates them to understand the material. Keywords Laboratory assignments • Vibration course • Scenario-based assignments • Problem solving • Surrogate structures 16.1 Introduction The mechanical engineering curriculum at Michigan Tech has a laboratory class with a three-lab sequence covering free vibration, forced vibration, and multiple degree of freedom systems. Student teams measure the vibration of standard single degree of freedom (SDOF) system (Fig. 16.1) that is specifically designed to easily accommodate changes to mass stiffness and damping. Another spring mass system can easily be attached to the main mass to represent a tuned absorber or generic two-DOF system. The initial laboratory instructions guided students through academic exercises of making acceleration measurements to verify mass, damping, and stiffness (MCK) models. Students followed the instructions and wrote lab reports with little understanding of how these activities might apply to real world systems. Students struggled with the lab activities because: (1) the test structure did not resemble a realistic vibrating system and (2) students could not envision how test results contribute to real world engineering problem solving and decision making. 16.2 Redesign of Laboratory Experiments as Authentic Assignments The authors reframed the three-lab sequence with authentic problem-posing scenarios to support students in ongoing efforts to build a rhetorical technê for mechanical engineering problem solving. Rhetorical technê, originally explored by Aristotle, is a set of flexible, theoretical approaches or principles for understanding and investigating situations where persuasive action is possible for problem solving [1]. J.P. De Clerck ( ) MEEM Department, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931, USA e-mail: jdeclerck@mtu.edu J.S. De Clerck Instructional Design and Assessment Specialist, Michigan Technological University, Jackson Center for Teaching and Learning, 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931, USA © The Society for Experimental Mechanics, Inc. 2016 J. De Clerck, D.S. Epp (eds.), Rotating Machinery, Hybrid Test Methods, Vibro-Acoustics & Laser Vibrometry, Volume 8, Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-30084-9_16 169
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