USING A WIND POWER ASSESSMENT PROJECT ON THE HOPI RESERVATION AS A PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR UNDERGRAD AND GRADUATE STUDENTS

摘要

In August 2005, a new multi-disciplinary engineering program was started at Arizona State University's Polytechnic Campus aimed at emphasizing the characteristics of a polytechnic education. Only first semester freshmen were admitted to the program with sophomores, juniors and seniors to be added in subsequent years. The need for this program was driven by the rapid population growth of the Phoenix metropolitan area, capacity restrictions at ASU's Tempe campus and other state universities, forecasts of engineering student and industry demand, and a desire to develop a polytechnic campus at ASU. Unlike many curriculum development or reform efforts, the development of this new program began with a blank slate. This has given the founding faculty team unprecedented freedom and flexibility in the design of this program, resulting in the development of a novel and flexible curriculum addressing the needs of engineering graduates in the modern, global workplace. One key feature of this program is a PBL (problem-based learning) pedagogical emphasis. Each semester for four years, the engineering students enroll in a three-credit project course in which engineering principles are learned by doing a project. The facilities have been designed to support this emphasis. All engineering project courses are taught in a studio setting with space for teamwork and prototype fabrication including small shop tools, raw materials and lab instrumentation.