Questions tagged [education]

Use this tag for questions about engineering education, including but not limited to curriculum, accreditation programs, mentoring programs and educational internships. Do not request individual academic guidance.

Do not ask about individual academic guidance.

This tag is mainly for questions about engineering pedagogy:

the method and practice of teaching, especially as an academic subject or theoretical concept

For example, one of the first questions on the site asks about designing a small wind turbine for use in a classroom environment. Though it was tagged , this question is mainly concerned with choosing a turbine blade diameter given simple, specific technical constraints. It would make just as much sense (and be as answerable) without knowing the context.

Another question from the same user asks how to demonstrate an ancient method of measuring the radius of the Earth. In this case, although the question is technical, its constraints are much more closely tied to the educational context. Some knowledge of what is practical to perform with students, and how students learn best, could be required to write a good answer here, so the tag is appropriate.

Academic Guidance

Questions asking for academic guidance are covered in this discussion on Meta:

An academic guidance question can be considered a question that inquires about the study of the various engineering fields as it relates to a specific person's academic and professional career. Prime examples are those that ask about a choice of institutions, degrees, courses, or topics of study.

Academic guidance questions are considered off-topic here because:

  1. They can and should be answered individually by someone whose job it is to advise students.
  2. Guidance will vary, and the decision of which guidance to follow is a personal one.
  3. Answering these questions on Engineering SE would be counter-productive for both the student and the site.
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What are the major differences between Engineering degrees and Engineering Technology degrees in terms of employability?

What difference in education occurs between two graduates, one with an Engineering Technology degree (be it Civil, Mechanical, Electrical...) and the other with the equivalent Engineering degree "proper?" Assuming both degrees are 4 year degrees and…
cKrug
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Modern method for teaching controls

Background When I took my first class in controls (2006-ish as taught by an aerospace professor for a mix of ME and EE students) it was basically all done in Laplace-transform, transfer functions etc. More recently (2012) I took a graduate level…
Dan
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What kind of math do engineers really use?

I am from the mathematics StackExchange section, many of my students are engineering students at University. I was wondering what kind of calculus do you real engineers use? I have known two engineers. One from airplane design and another from…
Nicolas Bourbaki
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Making a mechanical device to measure the radius of the Earth

I want to design an experiment to show (in an educational context) how we can measure the radius of the Earth without using modern technology in order to demonstrate the engineering achievements of those who did it so long ago, and to show some…
jhabbott
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Communicating losses and imprecision in liquid measurement by analogy

I'm writing a presentation for people and I need an analogy to convey the following problem: Person A wants to sell a liquid, so he fills a tank, measures volume and sends to Person B. Now Person B receives the liquid and wants to know if he…
eri0o
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What are the career implications of choosing a non-accredited postgraduate degree?

I am looking to complete a materials science/engineering-based Master's degree in the UK. Those which I have been looking at, particularly Leeds and Manchester, do not seem to be accredited by the IOM3 or other institutions. I am interested in…
Phizzy
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Applications of simple spring harmonic oscillator

For pedagogic reasons I am looking for applications in engineering for the simple spring harmonic oscillator, i.e. something like this ("harmonic" implies in particular "without damping"): . The angle to the horizontal my be between 0 and 90 degree…
Julia
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Planes, lines and distances: looking for engineering problems

In a week from now, I am going to teach a one-time class to first-year engineering students about 3D geometry, more specifically: distances between points and lines/planes, and the common perpendicular between two skew lines. Are there any cool…
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Time constant - formula

The book "Instrument Engineers' Handbook vol. 1 - Liptak" said that for the first-order system forced by a step or an impulse, the time constant is the time required to complete 63.2% of the total rise or decay; at any instant during the process,…
Gennaro Arguzzi
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What is the difference between mechatronics and robotics, if any?

When explaining to someone what mechatronics is, I ususally end up stating that it is synonymous with robotics. While I think it is mostly true, are there any subtle differences between the two? The obligatory google search suggested that robotics…
Justin Trzeciak
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PLC / Scada education requirements.

I'm looking for some advice on what study of engineering I should pursue. I want to be a PLC / SCADA programmer, but with all these engineering titles I am lost on what to even look for. I was thinking electrical engineering and then take some…
Steven S.
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Efficiency model for centrifugal pumps, using relations from Europump's Ecopump project

Context: I'm trying to create a mathematical model for centrifugal pumps. This model should describes how the operational variables of centrifugal pumps $(Q, \Delta P, ...)$ related to it's design parameters $(Stages, Dimensions, ...)$ and it's…
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Balance between technical and philosophical training

I'm interested in potentially studying engineering, specifically cybernetics and possibly robotics with machine learning or AI for assistive technology, probably with a focus on hygiene. Coming from a pure physics and math background, I have a…
TLDR
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Formulation of problems and exercises in Mechanical Engineering

I'd like to know how do the authors of Mechanical Engineering books(books of engineering dynamics, mechanics of materials, fluid mechanics...) and some university professors of Mechanical Engineering formulate those beautiful problems and exercises…
danilocn94
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Physicist wanting to transition into engineering

I am a PhD in (experimental) physics with a couple of years work experience in applied physics. I am realising that whenever you ask a physicist "can you do this?" and the answer is "yes", this tends to mean "it is physically possible for this event…
SuperCiocia
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