Loughborough University
Browse
1/1
2 files

Engineering students' knowledge of mechanics upon arrival: expectation and reality

journal contribution
posted on 2012-04-18, 08:40 authored by Stephen Lee, Martin C. Harrison, Carol Robinson
In recent years there has been an increasing awareness of a lack of knowledge of mechanics amongst engineering students entering English universities. In this paper, the authors investigate the level of knowledge of mechanics which lecturers commonly expect from students entering university. They also review students’ actual knowledge upon arrival. This research was carried out by implementing several research methods, including a survey of 497 schools in England; a survey of over 1,000 engineering students; results from a mechanics diagnostic test sat by 451 engineering students and a survey and follow-up interviews of academic staff. Findings from these indicate that there is a considerable difference between academic expectation and the reality of students’ prior knowledge of mechanics.

History

School

  • University Academic and Administrative Support

Research Unit

  • Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre

Citation

LEE, S., HARRISON, M.C. and ROBINSON, C.L., 2006. Engineering students' knowledge of mechanics upon arrival: expectation and reality. Engineering Education: Journal of the Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre, 1 (1), pp. 32 - 38.

Publisher

© Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre, Loughborough University

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Publication date

2006

Notes

This article was published in Engineering Education: Journal of the Higher Education Academy Engineering Subject Centre and is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivatives licence.

ISSN

1750-0052;1750-0044

Language

  • en

Usage metrics

    Loughborough Publications

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC