Purdue’s First-Year Engineering Program:

The First-Year Engineering (FYE) Program is continuously using the design-based research process to assess and revise our curriculum to improve the learning environment while contributing to the engineering education research community. The FYE program consists primarily of two sequential 2 credit hour courses. Each of the courses utilizes Modeling-Eliciting Activities (MEAs) and Design Projects to foster iterative, team-based learning environments. We believe these pedagogies ensures greater development of critical thinking, among other vital skills. To learn more about some fundamental literature about developing courses, check out the Pedagogy and Assessment – Building Courses group.

To best explain how nanotechnology is integrated in Purdue’s first-year engineering course, we will focus on the projects completed in the Spring 2014 semester. The course was centered around two team projects that engaged the students in nanotechnology concepts. This course is called ENGR 132; some reference materials given to the students can be found in the Introduction to Nanotechnology for Freshman Engineering Students group. Another great resource for students to explore nanotechnology that we refer our students to is the Education page that groups educational materials for various topics.

The first project was the Nano-Roughness MEA. This project is explained in the NanoRoughness MEA Content and Training group. The materials necessary to implement this into a classroom can be found on this group. You must request group membership in order to access the training and grading materials for this MEA.

The second project was the Nanotechnology-based Design Project. This project is explained in the Nanotechnology-based Design Projects group. The way this project has progressed over the years is also explained in this group. Some of the content to implement this in the classroom can be found in this group.