2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Poetry writing to enhance conceptual understanding of mathematical models and approaches for inventory management

Presented at Industrial Engineering Division (IND) Technical Session 2

To enhance conceptual understanding of mathematical models for inventory management, we developed poetry-writing assignments for a required, upper-level undergraduate course in an industrial and systems engineering program. Specifically, two poetry-writing assignments were incorporated into an inventory and supply chain system design and control course. The first assignment, due one week before the first term exam, asked students to write a poem about a concept, model or topic related to deterministic inventory modeling. The second and assignment, due one week before the second term exam, asked the students to write a poem about a concept, model or topic related to stochastic inventory modeling. The students were also asked to respond to several open-ended questions on their approach to writing the poems and their assessment of the impact of these poetry writing on improving their conceptual understanding of the underlying mathematical models. Data was collected in Spring 2022 semester. The student written-poetry will be analyzed for correctness and to identify misunderstandings or gaps in understanding. In this paper, we will present our findings from the content analysis of student-written poetry and our preliminary findings on the effectiveness of poetry-writing assignments to enhance conceptual understanding of mathematical models for inventory management.

Authors

Prof. Elif Akcali University of Florida [biography]

Dr. Elif Akcali is an Associate Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and an affiliate faculty member in the Engineering Innovation Institute at the University of Florida. She is an industrial engineer, a visual artist and an explorer of the interplay between engineering and the arts.
Saron Getachew Belay [biography]

Saron Belay is a Project Manager at Starbucks Technology and a recent graduate from the University of Florida with a degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering and a minor in Sales Engineering.
Elayne Colón University of Florida [biography]

Dr. Elayne Colón is a Clinical Professor and Interim Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs in the College of Education at the University of Florida. With a background in school psychology, her scholarly interests include accountability and accreditation, the preparation of educators for P-12 settings, and the ways in which we measure learning and impact in higher education.
Jade Williams [biography]

Dr. Williams is a faculty member in the Department of Communication in Chandler-Gilbert Community College. She has an active research program employing qualitative and arts-based methods to investigate the complex and powerful relationships that exist between human communication and biology, health and well-being; conflict management and negotiation; crisis Communication in Emergency Medical Teams; human resilience; narrative identity and constructions of self and other as well as stereotypes and stigma. In addition to teaching and research, Dr. Williams presents workshops and seminars, both locally and nationally, on a variety of organizational and interpersonal communication-related topics.

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