2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The ability of undergraduate Civil Engineering students to understand and solve statically determinate Free-Body Diagrams (FBD) is foundational to success in initial engineering education and a foundational concept in advanced topics. Incomplete understanding and mastery of the fundamental skills that students develop using FDBs can follow students throughout their engineering education and negatively impact their ability to succeed in higher level courses and in their continued professional development.
Our research examines student performance on multiple in-class FBD quizzes and on FBDs in a mid-term exam during a Fundamentals of Engineering Mechanics course. We then compare these against cumulative student performance at the close of that course, against both the following Mechanics of Materials and the Structural Analysis course, an Engineering Mechanics Diagnostic Exam proctored at the beginning of Senior year, and against student performance on the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam during the final semester of Senior year. By doing this, we hope to determine early indicators of students who are struggling and may be at increased risk of failing the FE when they take it near the end of their Senior year.
If indicators can be developed as a tool to show which students need additional guidance and remedial training before FE failure, we anticipate we will be able to increase pass rates and improve likelihood of training practicing engineers who will act as confident leaders within the profession.