2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Work-in Progress: Engaging the Undergraduate Thermodynamics Classroom Using Mini-Adventures in the Entrepreneurial Mindset

Presented at Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation Division (ENT) Technical Session 3

With the ever-changing technological developments in engineering, educators are constantly trying to have curricula address the changing needs of the workforce. One means is incorporating the Entrepreneurial Mindset (EM) into various courses in the form of Entrepreneurial Minded Learning (EML) activities. Although notable strides have been made in the implementation of EML across engineering education, there remain significant challenges to more buy-in from instructors and students alike. Thermodynamics, a notoriously abstract and difficult subject matter to effectively engage students, is not immune to the need to change. Thermodynamics is a fundamental engineering science course that is shared by mechanical, chemical, and similar engineering programs. Adopting new material into such a foundational course can be difficult. Engineering instructors introduce several teaching methods including active learning, interactive lecture demonstrations, video-based lectures, additional online learning activities through learning management systems, project-based learning, and problem-based learning. However, there is still room for improvements in teaching methods for this fundamental class.
To reduce the activation barrier and overcome the entropic inertia that resists curriculum changes, this paper addresses a means to create easy-to-adopt EML modules in an introductory thermodynamics course. The goal is to engage the classroom using small snippets of EML at a time – so called Mini-EML Adventures. By taking a modular approach for implementation, instructors have the ability to pick and choose mini EML modules for a given topic to better engage students, with the hope of reducing the amount of work and development time often required in creating new course material. The approach taken by the authors is to create Mini-EML Adventures using different concepts often encountered in thermodynamics and leveraging the three Cs of EM (curiosity, connections, and creating value) to engage the modern, diverse classroom. The main goal is to elevate existing lecture material into something short, interesting, and EML-friendly. These Mini-EML Adventures contain a one-sentence description, the mindset addressed, targeted skillset, course topic, type of activity, time requirements (generally less than a class period), and materials needed. We provide example activities along with a general template for these activities that can help instructors craft their own Mini-EML Adventures. The goal of this work is to make EML more accessible to instructors to implement in their existing thermodynamic courses and beyond.

Authors

Dr. Timothy Shenk http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5640-2645 Campbell University [biography]

Dr. Timothy Shenk, Assistant Professor at Campbell University, received his Ph.D. degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSMT) in 2016, a masters from Colorado School of Mines, and an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Oregon State University. Interests include improving undergraduate education, undergraduate research, and student outreach.
Dr. Najmus Saqib Marian University [biography]

Dr. Najmus Saqib is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Marian University. He has been teaching in his field since 2017. Saqib is passionate about student learning. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado School of Mines, focusing on "Optical Diagnostics of Lithium-Sulfur and Lithium-Ion Battery Electrolytes using Attenuated Total Reflection Infrared Spectroscopy". At Mines Saqib was a member of the MODES Lab, led by Dr. Jason M. Porter. His work on Li-S batteries was the first of its kind to use quantitative infrared spectroscopy for operando polysulfide measurements. He has also applied operando spectroscopy to improve the understanding of electrolyte decomposition mechanisms in Li-ion batteries. In addition to his current research interests of developing diagnostic tools for electrochemical storage of renewable energy, Saqib is also interested in the Scholarship of Teaching of Learning (SoTL) and Engineering Education in particular.

Prior to joining Marian, Saqib was one of the founding faculty members of the Mechanical Engineering program at the University of Indianapolis. He served as the program coordinator, undertaking major curriculum development, and led the program through a successful initial ABET accreditation review. He received multiple research grants, he coordinated the campus-wide Research Fellows programs, and his dedication to teaching was recognized through the UIndy Teacher of the Year nomination in 2023.

In the classroom, Saqib likes to challenge his students to tackle real-world engineering problems. He likes to use innovative pedagogical techniques and Entrepreneurial-Minded Learning (EML) to facilitate student learning. Beyond the classroom, he has a passion for mentoring students and helping them achieve their educational and professional goals.
Marie Stettler Kleine http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1461-716X Colorado School of Mines [biography]

Marie Stettler Kleine is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering, Design, & Society. She conducts research on engineering practice and pedagogy, exploring its origins, purposes, and potential futures. Marie is especially interested in the roles of values in engineers’ pursuit to “do good.”

Marie received her B.S. in mechanical engineering and international studies from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and M.S. and PhD in science and technology studies (STS) from Virginia Tech. She also earned a graduate certificate in human-centered design (HCD) from the Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program at Virginia Tech.

Marie’s interest in values and engagement in professional cultures also extends to innovation and its experts. With Matthew Wisnioski and Eric Hintz, Marie co-edited Does America Need More Innovators? (MIT Press, 2019). This project engages innovation’s champions, critics, and reformers in critical participation.
Dr. Aneesha Gogineni Saginaw Valley State University [biography]

Aneesha Gogineni received her Master’s and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Wichita State University (Kansas, USA). She joined SVSU in 2016 as Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering department. After serving the department for 5 years, she received her tenure, and promoted to Associate Professor in 2021. During this time, she taught courses like Thermodynamics, Heat Transfer, Computational and Experimental Methods using MATLAB, Fluid mechanics, Statics, Engineering Cost Analysis, Heat transfer lab and MATLAB software lab. Mechanical Engineering at SVSU is an ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) accredited program where her goal as a professor is to provide the knowledge and skills that enable students to achieve success in the program through complex problem solving and hands on active learning. Her research interests are in the field of Heat Ventilation and Air Conditioning, Indoor Air Quality, Heat Exchangers, Bio-Engineering applications and pedagogical studies in active learning.
Aneesha Gogineni is a member of ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), ASEE (American Society of Engineering Education) and SWE (Society of Women Engineering). She is currently serving as Vice-Chair Process Industry Division. She is also serving as a co-advisor for Society of Women Engineers (SWE). She received Dow Professor award at Saginaw Valley State University to develop hands on active learning approach in several mechanical engineering courses. She received Ruby Award from first state bank as a recognition for her accomplishments in the STEM field in the great lakes bay region.
Dr. A. L. Ranen McLanahan The Kern Family Foundation [biography]

Dr. A. L. Ranen McLanahan is a Program Director and national speaker for the Kern Family Foundation. He started in industry working on a floating factory ship in Alaska in 1999. From there, he’s done computational modeling work, micro-electrical mechanical system design, and R&D work through a device prototyping and innovation center that he co-founded in 2013. He has served as a faculty member of general and mechanical engineering for 12 years with the UW-Platteville Engineering Partnership and worked as an industrial consultant and research affiliate through his company Critical Flux LLC. In 2016, Ranen was invited to the Wisconsin State Capitol to give a workshop on Solidarity to the Wisconsin Legislators. Topics from this workshop became his 2019 book, The Science of Solidarity. Over his career, Ranen has earned multiple educational awards and nominations for his teaching, outreach, and innovation.
Dr. Stephanie M. Gillespie University of New Haven [biography]

Stephanie Gillespie is the Associate Dean at the Tagliatela College of Engineering at the University of New Haven in West Haven, CT. Since entering academia, she has been passionate about preparing the next generation of engineers with real-life skills, specifically by teaching courses in the area of engineering service learning, first-year engineering courses, and the Grand Challenges of Engineering. Her current research interests span multiple areas of engineering education including makerspaces, multidisciplinary teams, gender diversity and minority retention, and entrepreneurial mindset. Her PhD from Georgia Tech focused on machine learning and signal processing for affective computing, specifically detecting stress and depression in adults with communication disorders. She is actively involved in the Society of Women Engineers and EPICS in IEEE.

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