PREFACE
Most introductory textbooks for engineering and engineering technology discuss the key aspects of these professions using traditional methods such as charts, graphs, and text. This book is different! It presents these concepts in the format of a story.
Sometimes the most powerful teaching tool is an example. We have found that when students can observe or identify with an example, their learning and retention increase tremendously. Sadly, the opportunity to develop such relationships in learning is rare and difficult to set up in normal teaching environments. We therefore propose a method to accomplish just this type of learning. The method is a novel about a young man who is contemplating entering engineering or technology. We capture the story of this young man's life as he enters college and watch how he interacts with friends, faculty, parents, and fellow workers at his part-time job as a trainee.
We believe the students who read the book will strongly identify with the characters in the story This story provides the students with a personalized viewpoint that allows them to see what life as an engineer or technologist will be like. They will be able to see how the skills taught in engineering and technology programs and in other parts of their education work together in a real-life setting. This unique approach can have a powerful impact on the perceptions of the students who enter engineering or technology as a career and may help develop characteristics that will guide them throughout their careers. The establishment of this type of paradigm (the view of a practicing technologist or engineer) may be the most important single factor contributing to the success of future engineers/technologists, because they will follow the examples they have been shown in the story. Furthermore, memory retention of the basic concepts is much better because the material is learned in context, thus reinforcing the ideas with other data and relevant discussion.
Most of the basic concepts that are important for an engineer/technologist are presented in the story. These are treated briefly in most cases, but the core concepts are well communicated with sufficient depth so that students can understand the basics and, more importantly, see how to practice the concepts in their lives. A partial list of the concepts introduced in the story include the following:
- What is an engineer and what is a technologist?
- Problem solving using the scientific method
- History of engineering and technology
- Spectrum of science, engineering, engineering technology, and technology
- Math as the language of science
- Different types of engineers and technologists
- Working in a team
- Goal setting
- Study skills
- Importance of general education/lifelong learning
- Effective writing
- Business economics
- Keeping of a lab (work) notebook
- Simultaneous engineering
- Project management
- Charting methods and elementary statistics
- Importance of caring for the environment
When a topic is so large that supplemental materials are needed, these materials are provided in Part Two and the Instructor's Supplement. Part Two is a simulation of a student's notebook, thus giving a further example of how supplementary material should be preserved and reviewed. These are notes that the students can refer to during and after lectures and can also be used by the instructor as outlines for class lectures and discussions. The Instructor's Supplement provides a sample course outline with activities and assignments that have been used in the authors' own classes.
Three main audiences are envisioned for this book. The first is, of course, the freshman in an introductory engineering or technology course. The second is the student, either in high school or in college, or parents of a student who has not yet chosen a major and is anxious to understand what the life of an engineer/technologist is like. The third audience is practicing engineers who may wish to read a book that gives a broad perspective of their occupation.
This book is certainly not the first to attempt to convey technical issues in a novel genre. However, we believe that this book conveys some important concepts and offers a unique insight into the fields of engineering and technology.
