Concept Inventories (CI) are designed to measure student understanding of fundamental concepts and have been used in education reform efforts for the past several years. A CI for engineering graphics is currently being developed. The original intent of the graphics CI was that it would include both “modern” (i.e., CAD) and “traditional” (i.e., sketching, conventions, etc.) fundamental concepts. The first step in the development of the graphics CI was to create open-ended problems for students to solve to determine common misconceptions and to identify future distractors for the eventual multiple choice items. The open-ended problems for traditional topics produced a variety of responses that could be neatly categorized into common misconceptions and from which distractors could be readily identified. However, the open-ended problems for the CAD topics produced multiple responses that were difficult to categorize and interpret. Further, it was apparent that for each open-ended CAD item there were possibly dozens of correct solutions. Since optimal modeling strategies depend on design intent, different CAD packages, or manufacturing processes, judging a correct answer was sometimes impossible. During an Advisory Board meeting for the project, a series of multiple choice questions that had been developed for assessment in a high school competency exam were identified. The project team reviewed the competency exam and identified several promising candidate items for inclusion in the CI. These items were then alpha-tested with a pool of students who had prior CAD knowledge. This paper outlines the results from the alpha-testing of these CAD items and the analysis of their suitability for use in the graphics Concept Inventory.
Heidi M. Steinhauer is an Associate Professor of Engineering, Department Chair of the Engineering Fundamentals Department, co-advisor for the only all-women’s Baja SAE Team, Founding Member of FIRST (Female Initiative Reaching Success Together), and former director for GEMS (Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science). Dr. Steinhauer’s awards include the ABET Presidential Award of Diversity and a three time winner of the Women’s Vision Award. She has presented papers at ASEE Annual Conference, the ASEE Global Colloquium, Research in Engineering Education Symposium, Engineering Design Graphics Division Mid-Year Conference, Additive Manufacturers Users Group, and Solid Free-Form Fabrication Symposium. Her research interests center around the development and assessment of students’ spatial visualization skills, the effective integration of 3D modeling into engineering design, and the impact of contextualized hands-on applications on student learning and success. She has taught Engineering Graphics, Introduction to Engineering Design, Automation and Rapid Prototyping, Additive Manufacturing, and has developed several advanced applications of 3D modeling courses. Dr. Steinhauer received her B.S. in Aircraft Engineering and her M.S. in Systems Engineering, and her Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Virginia Tech.
Dr. Branoff is a professor and chair of the Department of Technology at Illinois State University. He taught engineering graphics, computer-aided design, descriptive geometry, and instructional design courses in the College of Education at North Carolina State University from 1986-2014, and he teaches a geometric dimensioning and tolerancing course at Illinois State University. Dr. Branoff's research interests include constraint-based solid modeling strategies, spatial visualization abilities in undergraduate students, and best practices in GD&T instruction. He has conducted CAD and GD&T workshops for both industry and education professionals. Dr. Branoff has served in several roles within the Engineering Design Graphics Division of ASEE including Director of Programs, Chair, Vice-Chair, Associate Editor of the Engineering Design Graphics Journal, and Director of Professional & Technical Committees. In 2013, he was elected into the Academy of Fellows of the American Society for Engineering Education, and in 2014 he received the Distinguished Service Award from the Engineering Design Graphics Division of ASEE.
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4448-4604
Pennsylvania State University, Behrend
[biography]
Dr. Nancy E. Study is an Associate Teaching Professor in the School of Engineering at Penn State Behrend where she teaches courses in engineering graphics and rapid prototyping, and is the coordinator of the rapid prototyping lab. Her research interests include visualization, haptics, curriculum development, assessment, and graphics standards.
PhD - Engineering Education, The Ohio State University
MS - Civil Engineering, The Ohio State University
Are you a researcher? Would you like to cite this paper? Visit the ASEE document repository at peer.asee.org for more tools and easy citations.