2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Plastics manufacturing technology is a multidisciplinary field that deals with product design, prototyping and modeling, production and process design, materials testing and characterization, process automation and robotics, and quality control. “Green Plastics Manufacturing Technology (GPMT)” is an emerging discipline that encompasses a range of activities, from research and development of non-toxic and eco-friendly materials to the reduction of waste and pollution through changing patterns of production and consumption.

The primary goal of the NSF project (DUE-1044794) was to transform the current materials and manufacturing curriculum to keep pace with the new green technologies in the manufacturing and mechanical engineering technology programs at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). The major activities of the project were focused on developing an instruction model for materials and manufacturing curriculum in the mechanical and manufacturing engineering technology programs; we implemented pedagogy in active learning to develop learning modules for the class and lab activities; we redesigned an existing co-op program for undergraduates to promote research experiences in GPMT for STEM. Therefore, the outcomes of the project can help students develop skill sets for various career pathways in green manufacturing technology.

The outcomes of the project were assessed and evaluated in terms of learning effectiveness achieved by the students who participated in the activities in class or lab, the contribution of the project to STEM education, and the recruitment of women and minority students for STEM. We found that the new instruction model interfaced with POGIL approach improved students’ critical thinking and problem solving skills significantly, and the re-designed-improved courses contributed to students’ learning in the GPMT concepts in materials and manufacturing. The benefits of co-op opportunities were clear in education: students could better clarify and focus their career interests and, therefore, they could directly relate practical experiences to career interests for their future. We have continued to offer the co-op and to promote undergraduate research opportunities in GPMT. Subsequently, the outreach program of the GPMT project was very effective to stimulate high school participants’ interests to consider the field of engineering technology as their major and to comprehend understanding of green materials in engineering practices. We will report more details in the outcomes and results from the project.