A first-year 宾州州立大学阿宾顿分校 engineering major navigated a cardboard boat his team built for an engineering design course.
阿宾顿,爸爸. - - - - - -一年级 宾州州立大学阿宾顿分校 工程专业 tested boats they built recently for a required cornerstone design course using cardboard, thin plastic sheeting and duct tape to transport one adult across a local pool.
的创意 大卫•布朗, 有执照的专业工程师和讲师, the Cardboard Regatta featured teams of students who collaborated to design a boat that would keep one of their teammates dry while paddling a lap at the Willow Grove YMCA.
“The goals of the project were for students to learn about the engineering process and rapid prototyping. 他们必须设计并建造三艘越来越大的船, 找出哪些有用，哪些没用, 然后改进它. 这是工程过程的基础. 他们学会了团队合作, 调度, 文档, 实验和数据收集,布朗说.
在五周的过程中, 这些团队测试了他们的第一批船只, 哪个有两磅重, 在阿宾顿学校的鸭池里. They then modified their designs and scaled them up to carry 20 pounds before taking two weeks for the full-size build that they tested at the pool.
A required design course for first-year engineering students culminated in the Cardboard Regatta. Students developed fundamentals such as hands-on design and technical skills as they worked on teams to build a boat strong enough to support an adult using only cardboard and plastic sheeting.
When they arrived at the YMCA, Brown weighed the rider, the boat, and the paddle for each team. 然后“船长”走进了游泳池, accompanied by shouts of encouragement from their teammates and the curious stares of retirees and others who were swimming nearby and peering down from an elevated track.
The students overall were pleased with their results and happy that there were no catastrophic failures — in other words, 没有一艘船沉没, 没有人走极端.
“It was a really hard project, but I am so happy our boat worked. We had to problem-solve our way through it because we started with a different design, 我们一直在一起努力把事情做好,学生阿米娜·里德说.
布朗根据整个过程给球队打分, 不仅仅是船能否让水手们保持干燥. It was not a race so the amount of time it took to complete the lap was irrelevant.
“I offered bonus points to the students who built the lightest boat to encourage them to push their limits and compete with each other. They were rewarded for taking risks, pushing boundaries and trying to find the sweet spot,他说.
Teamwork was an important component of the Cardboard Regatta design and build process for first-year 宾州州立大学阿宾顿分校 工程专业.
Student Damian Santiago and his team occasionally endured turbulence trying to complete the project successfully.
“我们必须尝试不同的原型来实现这一目标, but the collaboration for problem solving made it much better to deal with,他说.
Tyler Jones agreed that working in a group was crucial to a good outcome.
“I learned so much about project management from this experience, 如何计划, and the trials and tribulations of taking on a challenge like this,他说.
Twelve boats were launched with most measuring about five feet long. 一个设计得像浮筒，另一个设计得像木筏. Some of the students scribbled “This isn’t the Titanic” and “Your feet go here” with arrows in black marker on the inside of their craft.
Brown finds that the EDSGN100 engineering design course “welcomes first-year students into the world of engineering.”
"This class gives them hands on design projects to develop while building their technical knowledge. It teaches them fundamentals like group work, 3D modeling, and presentation skills. We set them up for success long term with the fundamentals of the engineering practice, 心态与道德,他说.
布朗本学期开始在阿宾顿教书, and as he switched gears from more than two decades as a structural engineer to college instructor, the Cardboard Regatta proved to be an impactful experience for his students
“I wanted this project to be engaging and fun while reinforcing the course content. The students loved building, testing and using their creativity,他说.
宾州州立大学阿宾顿分校 engineering students designed two prototypes before building the final boat that transported a teammate across a pool at the Cardboard Regatta. 他们在校园的鸭池里测试了他们最初的设计.
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