Design Projects in Undergraduate Heat Transfer: Six Examples from the Fall 2007 Course at the University of Arkansas

One of the main objectives of engineering education is to effectively transfer subject information to the engineering students. A number of methods have been developed for enhancing this student learning including multimedia developments, active, problem-based learning, collaborative learning, and participation in cooperative education. Several papers have specifically addressed methods for improving or supplementing the teaching of heat transfer including the use of spreadsheets to solve two-dimensional heat transfer problems, the use of a transport approach in teaching turbulent thermal convection, the use of computers to evaluate view factors in thermal radiation, implementation of a computational method for teaching free convection, and the use of an integrated experimental/analytical/numerical approach that brings the excitement of discovery to the classroom. Supplemental heat transfer experiments for use in the laboratory or classroom have also been presented, including rather novel experiments such as the drying of a towel and the cooking of French fry-shaped potatoes. Suggestions for the integration of heat transfer course material into the laboratory and classroom were described by Penney and Clausen, who presented a number of simple hands on heat transfer experiments that can be constructed from materials present in most engineering departments. This crosscourse integration of course material has been shown to be a very effective learning tool that causes students to think beyond the content of each individual course.