Hydrostatic Pressure Project: Linked-Class Problem-Based Learning In Engineering

Abstract

Over the last few years, WTAMU Mathematics, Engineering and Science faculty has used interdisciplinary projects as the basis for implementation of a linked-class approach to Problem-Based Learning (PBL). A project that has significant relevance to engineering statics, fluid mechanics, and calculus is the Hydrostatic Pressure Project. This project was developed by faculty associated with the NSF-funded INCRSE project, Increasing Numbers and Connections in Science, Math, and Engineering, for application of the linked-class PBL to calculus II and engineering statics. The students in the linked classes were to predict the horizontal force and the vertical force on a submerged surface and determine the appropriate locations of these forces in order to experimentally verify the calculations. They worked in groups to outline their procedures, develop their functional relations, record experimental data, and report on their findings. Assessment efforts have focused on student laboratory reports and student perceptions about their learning and experiences with this linked-class PBL project collected through surveys and focus groups. In all the surveys and focus groups conducted with students who had participated in the Hydrostatic Pressure Project, all of the students felt their experience was beneficial and had enhanced their understanding and applications of engineering and mathematics.