This project is transforming the way students acquire engineering design and manufacturing knowledge by integrating the use of three axis desktop CNC (Computer Numerical Control) equipment into an undergraduate engineering curriculum. The initial focus of the project is on the first two years of the undergraduate engineering curriculum. The program is creating a new hands-on integrated design and manufacturing curriculum that uses CNC machines both as a design task and as a tool for product manufacture. Computer programming, mathematics, and physics are also being integrated into the curriculum. Specifically, students are required to write computer programs to control the machine.
Students at the junior and senior years are also involved because they use their design skills to help develop the inexpensive easily manufactured CNC machine tool. Because the tool development is part of the project, maintenance and upgrades are handled as part of the undergraduate curriculum.
The inquiry-based curriculum creates a hands-on experiential education for the students. As a result of this experience students have an increased knowledge of engineering design, an increased analysis capability, and much more self-confidence. The evaluation of these outcomes is performed an external evaluator. Motivation is being studied using the "Situational Motivation Scale". Self-efficacy and higher cognitive achievement is being studied using the "Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire" and the "Metacognitive Awareness Inventory".
The project is disseminating results by providing machine designs and curriculum to all interested universities, two-year colleges, and high schools.
