2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Designing a la carte Theory-to-Practice Learning Modules for a Mechanical Engineering Senior Design Course

Presented at Mechanical Engineering Division (MECH) Poster Session

Many core classes in Mechanical Engineering, for a variety of good reasons, tend to focus on developing students’ theoretical knowledge. For some of these classes, this theoretical knowledge is put into practice in laboratory courses, where students are asked to take data on well-designed, robust test apparatuses and analyze that data using theory. Trying to reconcile data with theory can be a hugely rewarding learning experience, reinforcing both theory and application. However, these laboratory courses typically don’t provide students the opportunity to apply theory directly in the context of an open-ended design problem. Instead, most institutions, including our own, ask students to do this during their senior design projects with limited support. In most cases, this is a faculty instructor asking students, on their own, to revisit or remember previous course material and apply that knowledge to help them develop a prototype, with an implicit expectation that students will be able to do this well. However, many students struggle with this task, which can lead to poor prototyping outcomes and a general lack of confidence in their abilities. This work-in-progress paper discusses the development of a la carte, theory-to-practice learning modules designed to help students through the process of applying theory to open-ended design problems. We describe the current state of our senior design laboratory, the mechanism for gathering information from our design students who use the lab, and the initial design of a theory-to-practice learning module that will be implemented in the course in future semesters.

Authors

Dr. Michael Cheadle http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8697-5284 University of Wisconsin - Madison [biography]

Dr. Michael Cheadle is an Assistant Teaching Professor and Senior Design Program Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin -- Madison. He is passionate about inclusive undergraduate engineering education and the development of creativity and design thinking in undergraduate students. His current focus is on the development of all aspects of senior design programs at large enrollment universities.
Dr. Katherine Fu University of Wisconsin - Madison [biography]

Dr. Kate Fu is the Jay and Cynthia Ihlenfeld Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From 2014 to 2021, she was an Assistant and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology. Prior to these appointments, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). In May 2012, she completed her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. She received her M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon in 2009, and her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Brown University in 2007. Her work has focused on studying the engineering design process through cognitive studies, and extending those findings to the development of methods and tools to facilitate more effective and inspired design and innovation. Dr. Fu is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, the ASME Design Theory and Methodology Young Investigator Award, the ASME Atlanta Section 2015 Early Career Engineer of the Year Award, and was an Achievement Rewards For College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation Scholar.
Hunter Kent University of Wisconsin - Madison [biography]

Graduate student at UW Madison pursuing a master's degree in mechanical engineering.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

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