In most undergraduate engineering degree plans the engineering design curricula include classes such as Introduction to Engineering, Statics, Dynamics, and Mechanics of Solids. They usually do not have laboratory components to help students understand concepts through hands-on experience. This paper presents the development and implementation of an educational low-cost device/tool that can be set up and used by students in and out of their engineering classes to assist their learning. The goal of this project was to develop and integrate cost-effective microcontrollers and sensors to create electronic meters or data acquisition systems and use them in multiple courses to provide students with interdisciplinary experiences to understand concepts as part of engineering systems. Each student could acquire his/her own system to use at school or at home because of cost-effective tools and open-source software. Specifically, the authors integrated and tested a hardware kit based on an inexpensive microcontroller (like a PIC or Arduino) and with different sensors. In addition, the authors developed challenges with hands-on activities for the Introduction to Engineering course, and other challenges will be developed in a similar way for courses such as Statics, Dynamics, and Mechanics of Materials. Preliminary implementation results are presented. The initial implementation was based on recommendations from students in an effort to determine in which courses it could make the best contribution and impact. Once a particular system was developed and implemented, it was relatively easy to adapt to any other similar and compatible sensor. The authors were able to perform experiments using their own portable computers connected through a USB port to a low-cost microcontroller and compatible sensors to measure temperature, light intensity, deflection, acceleration, and force, or other physical properties of interest. Positive results in student motivation were observed. Special features such as wireless communication and I2C sensors are part of an ongoing project that will be incorporated to the system in the near future and in other courses.
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