Initial Publication Date: November 8, 2023
How Computation and Modelling Tools Can Counteract Compartmental Learning for Engineering Students
Paul Campbell, School of Engineering, University of Technology, JamaicaCurricula of most undergraduate engineering programmes comprise several categories of courses, the sum of which, it is presumed, makes for a rounded graduate. I would identify these categories as
- General Education – This covers the knowledge and competencies that are equally important for all disciplines of undergraduate education. It serves to provide students with a societal context for the practice of engineering thus enabling the engineer to conscientiously interact with the non-engineer.
- Physical Sciences – Engineers must have a proper grasp of the principles that underpin how our physical world "works" because their engineered solutions will also be subject to these principles and laws. Normally, physics, chemistry and sometimes biology, are the core of this aspect of learning.
- Mathematics – The mathematics of engineering goes beyond arithmetic, which is the basic science of numbers. Traditionally, mathematics for engineers further advances into the topics of calculus, differential equations, and statistics.
- Computing and Programming – Of the six categories of courses identified here, this is the only one that has been apparently absent from most engineering curricula over humanity's thousands of years of practicing formal tertiary education. However, since the mid-to-late 20th century, computing has transformed to practice of all professional disciplines, and engineering not in the least.
- Core Engineering – All engineers must graduate from undergraduate programme as some specific kind of engineer. The core refers to courses that serve a particular field of engineering, the field that the graduate will be most suited to apply his/her knowledge and competencies.
- Specialist Content – These optional or elective courses refer to the unique or specialist skillsets that the student acquires to supplement his knowledge in a particular field of engineering. While all other five categories are truly essential to make an engineer, this element of an engineer's education is what grants each engineer his/her unique professional personality. This may be where each engineer has an opportunity to be distinct from another engineer colleague and where the engineer discovers a passion within the discipline.
The order that I have listed these categories is not coincidental but generally represents the chronological order in which students will engage these contents during the course of their undergraduate studies. Neither is it coincidental that mathematics, computing, and programming sit in the middle of the list. As I will attempt to elaborate on below, I believe these subject areas to be key to "pulling it all together" in engineering education. So then, even though I have listed these as separate areas of learning, it does not imply that the engineering students' learning should be separate, or as the title expresses it, compartmental.
I have often commented to my students that the word "University" is a variation of the word "Universe", which essentially means "One Truth", "One Thought" or "One Reality". So then, in our universities, students should be seeing how "IT" all comes together. Certainly, all students in university (and college) should have respect for this concept of Oneness. But this should be especially so the engineer, whose claim is that they can understand, design, and build complex physical systems comprised of simpler elements.
But, sadly, in most of our institutions of higher learning, the culture of Oneness in learning is absent. Our graduating engineer is more like a garage filled with meticulously machined modern auto parts that are admired and praised. The old car being driven down the street is considered nothing to appreciate. This perspective may be representative of a more widespread erosion of principles in the culture of learning. While I consider MATLAB to be a wonderful tool, I've struggled much to get my students at both undergrad and grad levels to embrace its usefulness. It is disheartening the extent to which engineering students fail to connect the dots between their several subject matter areas. Some may seem to excel when graded in engineering mathematics modules, but when the very same mathematical principle is revisited in the context of engineering and applied sciences, there is often a disconnect. Additionally, while it is quite understood that instructors of general education courses may not have technical understanding in engineering matters, I would delight to see students transfer the knowledge secured in their engineering and math classes over into their general education space. Capping off my concern on this issue is the weak appreciation for the utility of computational tools. While students may get seemingly credible grades in computing classes, when utilizing the computer in a non-programming class, they fail to exploit those skillsets acquired in programming classes.
As I hinted at earlier, I firmly believe that mathematics, computing, and programming are significantly underutilized in the delivery of undergraduate engineering education. I see mathematics as the basic science of numbers and quantities. Computing refers to the tools (hard and soft) and methods for manipulating numbers and representing quantities. Finally, programming is the discipline of thought and reasoning, applied especially to physical quantities, and codified on computing platforms.
How to link learning across different levels and disciplines in engineering curricula is itself an engineering endeavour. I dare not suggest that I can propose a solution in a brief essay such as this. However, recognizing the problem for what it is a key step. Below are a few other suggested elements that may inform a more comprehensive strategy. Note the role of mathematics, computing and programming in each consideration.
Strengthen the competence of engineering academics in mathematics, computing and programming – We engineering academics are all graduates (some recent) of the same kinds of programmes which now lament and are trying to redesign. Though it is humbling to admit, many of us teach without going beyond basic arithmetic. Some never utilize computational and programming tools. Why? Because this is how many of us were also taught. Admittedly, some of us do have significant competence and appreciation for computation and programming, but while working in a space where the wider academic culture fails to have the same appreciation, we soon become exhausted in swimming against the tide. Additionally, our students come to our classes having become used to compartmental learning. They feel that challenging them to apply higher mathematical thought and computational and programming techniques to a subject matter is simply making the subject matter harder. It may not be possible or realistic for every engineering academic to adopt this approach in their teaching, but it is important that programme directors and heads of school of engineering deliberately invest in identifying key academic staff to champion these approaches, and to provide them with the requisite resources to build their competence and practice in these teaching methodologies.
Enable target Consolidation Courses that are distributed throughout undergraduate programmes – An average full-time student may take about 5 to 7 courses each semester during the course of their programmes. To keep these students constantly appreciating, drawing on, and growing in the mathematical, computing and programming techniques that they learned in the earlier years of their programmes, at least one course each semester may be targeted that will cause them to call on these techniques as they engage in the subject matter. These Consolidation Courses should be thoughtfully selected and be managed by the same engineering academics discussed above, identified and supported by the school/department to incorporate advanced mathematical, computing and programming techniques in their courses.
Use computational modelling to reproduce behaviours in our physical world – Practicals and labs are one of the pillars of proper engineering education. They serve to bring theoretical constructs to life, making concepts more tangible that might otherwise be hard to understand. But physical labs are costly to build, maintain and operate. Thankfully, the power of computer simulation can be used to supplement scientific observations of the physical world. I do not dare to suggest that simulated or virtual labs replace physical ones, but rather that they complement them. While they may not be as tangible as physical demonstrations would be, they also enable the student to better understand the factors that contribute to how physical systems behave. With computer models, especially those that student contributes to codifying, factors that would otherwise be unseen in the physical world can be delved into by analyzing and visualizing various parameters within a model. During these investigations, a student can satisfy his/her curiosity, playing with parameters in ways that would be costly, reckless, or even dangerous to do with the counterpart physical system.
Projects, project, projects! – Projects involving the design and/or analysis of physical systems provide students with fun a space for free inquiry and creativity. Regardless of the form that they may take, facilitators of projects should ensure that the application of advanced mathematical techniques and computational tools are incentivized and rewarded. Programmes should endeavour to have students engaged in projects of some kind throughout the course of their studies. Additionally, in our Industry 5.0 world, we should also be challenging our students to engage in projects that integrate computing and virtual systems with our physical world. This calls on skillsets related to a suite of subject areas such as instrumentation and controls, data acquisition, IoT, networking and robotics. These projects may be compulsory, such as being incorporated into courses, or extracurricular activities, for example, as part of design competitions.
We must endeavour to move our students out of the traditional classroom, as our world is no longer traditional. The existence of the computer, and more specifically, the microprocessor, has accelerated the development and adoption of almost every technological advancement of our modern world. Accordingly, any engineering educational programme that fails to acknowledge the role of computing in every aspect of its offering is only doing its students a terrible disservice. Therefore, just as computing permeates every aspect of the modern world, let us embrace the challenge of leveraging computational tools in every aspect of our engineering students' educational experience.