Engineering Statics

Abstract: Statics is a sophomore level engineering course, offered in all mechanical and civil engineering programs. Statics forms the essential pre-requisite to a number of follow-on courses, such as dynamics and mechanics of materials, and lays the foundation for design of mechanical systems. In most institutions, Statics is taught in a traditional way with an emphasis on the mathematical operations that are useful in its implementation, but without enough emphasis on modeling the interactions between real mechanical artifacts. Unfortunately, students who learn Statics in the traditional way do not generally gain the ability to apply concepts of Statics in the analysis and design of mechanical systems and structures which they confront in their subsequent education. Prior to beginning work on the OLI Statics course, the authors undertook the development of a concept inventory for Statics which included identification of key concepts in Statics and the construction of a testing instrument to measure a student's ability to use these concepts in isolation. The authors also combined a variety of instructional techniques known to increase learning - such as active learning, collaboration, integration of assessment and feedback, and use of concrete physical manipulatives - to devise a sequence of learning modules for the Statics classroom. These practical instructional tools, which reflect a more organized, sequential approach to addressing concepts in Statics, have been presented at conferences and described in the engineering education literature. The OLI Statics course implements this sequential, object-centered instructional approach and seeks to address the educational challenge of improving conceptual understanding and fostering improved ability to apply concepts to real mechanical systems.

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