2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Pre-college education programs have grown exponentially in recent years due to the increased demand and desire of students to enter into university and workforce paths in careers in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematic (STEM) fields. Multiple programs are designed to focus on individual aspects of the STEM models; including such programs on engineering design, 3D CAD modeling, and mechatronics. While these programs have shown to be successful, they lack a defining familiarity to everyday experiences in students’ lives. These programs are confined introductions to problem solving but do not accurately relay the real-world problem solving and consequences of engineering within a thriving community. A new approach in STEM educational programs was created to synergize the hands-on learning of STEM principles in a pre-college outreach laboratory, and work directly with local and regional corporate entities to envelop pre-college students in real-world problems, experiences, and engineering solutions. By grounding the students in local engineering obstacles that affects their everyday lives, students’ understanding and awareness will increase and further engage their learning experience.
This paper presents an integrated science and engineering program called Keeping Cool with Qatar Cool, designed to educate pre-college students in a wide variety of scientific concepts and engineering principles related to regional cooling engineering. Qatar Cool, the leading regional cooling company in Qatar, partnered with the Texas A&M University at Qatar to create a hands-on program to a group of 24 pre-college students. The program was divided into multiple learning sessions where students were broken into small teams to better brainstorm and collaborate for problem solving. Lessons were focused on the core science and engineering behind regional cooling; a technology vital to the well-being of Qatar, a country located in the heart of the Middle East. The topics covered in the program included the importance of engineering and teamwork, the engineering design process, the physics of pumps, water conservation, heat transfer, space cooling and energy consumption, evaporative cooling, chemistry of evaporation, refrigeration, water purification, and reverse osmosis. Each session included in-person lessons from science and engineering professionals, experiments on the topics, and hands-on mini-projects to utilize and demonstrate the lessons. At the end of the program, the students were tasked by Qatar Cool as an engineering team to research and devise multiple solutions to the problem of refrigerant contamination of chilled cooling water. The students worked with engineers from Qatar Cool and Texas A&M at Qatar to create novel solutions to the problem, and present their work to a team of engineers for evaluation.
This program bridged the divide between pre-college lessons in the classroom and the problem solving faced by professional engineers and scientists. By using regional problems and expertise, the students’ comprehension of the lessons was enhanced, and the problem solving bore greater purpose. All details of the program including lesson plans and instructional materials are included in this paper.