RIBBITT - Teaching Elements of Engineering Design Using a Child's Toy

Civil engineering freshmen at ___________ University are taught a second semester orientation course which gives them an overview of the major sub-disciplines within their chosen field, in addition to working on an open ended team structured design project.The course is taught by a team of faculty from the department, who also guide the projects.One of the components taught in this course was an interactive exercise in mechanics, using a simple toy called "Frog Hoppers".During this exercise, students were exposed to engineering concepts such as strength of materials, kinematics of projectile motion, aerodynamics, elasticity and work and energy principles.Given the limitations of their technical background, these concepts were presented in 'bite-size' modules, without overemphasizing theory.They were also taught to recognize the sources of error in experimental endeavors and the importance of understanding and quantifying these errors.Students were given two hours to complete the exercise.In the first hour, they were introduced to the topic and some of the underlying theory.They were also directed to work within their team structures and develop strategies about some of the open-ended aspects of the exercise.The second hour was used by the students to perform the various parts of the experiment and record their observations.Students were required to submit a written report outlining and explaining their findings.Students in this orientation course are required to complete a detailed evaluation of the various components of the course.The fairly recent introduction of this element into the course means that, to date, there is little feedback about how freshmen respond to the relevance of this exercise for their chosen curriculum.