This study presents the results of a meta-analysis on teaching methods used in software engineering (SE) courses. The results summarize the most common teaching methods and can be used by both ...educators and practitioners in better alignment of SE courses with industry-relevant knowledge, tools, and practices.
•Inclusion of art in mechanical engineering education is explained pragmatically.•Art, drawing and painting are explored as a medium for excelling in engineering education.•A generic methodology for ...training the novices and engineering students in particular through the drawing and painting of landscapes is proposed.•Art drawing and painting are proved to be a correct fit for enhancing imagination and visualization skills.•Validation of “Thinking through art” methodology is performed.
In the postdigital era, students are expected to hone and enhance their creativity. This work is aimed to enable and equip the students to learn key engineering skills with more confidence and passion through fine arts skills of sketching, drawing and painting. This work proposes a structured methodology to train the novices and engineering students in particular through the drawing and painting of landscapes and nature. Drawing and painting is explored as a learning tool for engineering education by encouraging innovative thinking and learning through art. Applying the methodology presented here shall help students to quickly grasp the engineering concepts, and thus, perform better in STEM courses. Requirements of the postdigital era and its related importance for training of the students in various core engineering courses through art is deliberated. This ideation of “thinking through art” is validated by selecting an appropriate blend of theoretical, conceptual, problem-oriented and spatial visualization based five courses namely, Machine Tools, Material Science, Strength of Materials, Engineering drawing and Machine Drawing. Performance of a pilot group of students, firstly without pre-training in artistic skills and subsequently with pre-training in artistic skills, is recorded. Statistical analysis to carried out and an improvement is observed when students are exposed to teaching which included pre-training in artistic skills. It is found that influence of pre-training of students in fine arts has significant influence on the courses of Engineering drawing, Strength of Materials and Machine tools among the five courses with a blend of theoretical, conceptual, problem-oriented and spatial visualization concepts.
In the era of big data, deep learning for predicting stock market prices and trends has become even more popular than before. We collected 2 years of data from Chinese stock market and proposed a ...comprehensive customization of feature engineering and deep learning-based model for predicting price trend of stock markets. The proposed solution is comprehensive as it includes pre-processing of the stock market dataset, utilization of multiple feature engineering techniques, combined with a customized deep learning based system for stock market price trend prediction. We conducted comprehensive evaluations on frequently used machine learning models and conclude that our proposed solution outperforms due to the comprehensive feature engineering that we built. The system achieves overall high accuracy for stock market trend prediction. With the detailed design and evaluation of prediction term lengths, feature engineering, and data pre-processing methods, this work contributes to the stock analysis research community both in the financial and technical domains.
China’s undergraduate engineering education is facing two significant challenges: passive learning and limited cross-cultural communication. In response, active learning methods such as project-based ...learning (PBL) and Sino-foreign cooperative education emerge as promising solutions. However, despite their potential, PBL’s application remains constrained, and many Sino-foreign cooperative programs persist with traditional passive learning approaches. How to adeptly integrate the two, namely realizing active learning in Sino-foreign cooperative education, is the primary objective of this study. To this end, a sustainable strategy for cross-cultural transfer and the adaptation of active learning is proposed. Initially, a PBL-based active learning pedagogy is tailored for a course within a Sino-Australian cooperative undergraduate program. This approach integrates hands-on activities, teamwork, and the flipped classroom method. Moreover, to ensure implementation quality, an assessment method reliant on continuous student survey feedback is suggested. Subsequently, through the statistical analysis of students’ survey data as well as final grades, both quantitative and qualitative results affirm the efficacy of the proposed strategy.
Background
Recently published reports call for an increase in the number of engineering graduates and suggest appropriate characteristics that these graduates should embody. Accomplishing such change ...first requires understanding why students choose to pursue engineering degrees.
Purpose (Hypothesis)
Framed in motivation theory, our purpose was to better understand how students choose engineering by answering the question: How do engineering students' engineering‐related value beliefs contribute to their choices to engage and persist in earning engineering degrees?
Design/Method
This research uses Eccles' expectancy‐value theory in a qualitative, longitudinal examination of undergraduate students' choices to enroll and persist in engineering majors. In particular, the focus of this work is Eccles' subjective task value (STV) construct, which incorporates the personal importance an individual assigns to engaging in an activity. Using a multiple case study method approach, participants included eleven students (five men and six women) at a U.S. technical school.
Results
Results demonstrate that different patterns exist in the types of value or personal importance that participants assign to earning an engineering degree. Moreover, a primary differentiating feature of these patterns is whether or not participants choose engineering because it is consistent with their personal identity or sense of self.
Conclusions
We conclude that values are very important in students' choices to become engineers. To increase persistence rates we must focus on values, especially by helping students connect their personal identities to engineering identities.
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