Innovations in teaching creative engineering at the freshmen level

The complexity of modern engineering systems calls for an integrated design approach in the industry today. A careful review of the educational approach to design indicates that there is not enough design integration in the engineering curriculum, resulting in intensive retraining of graduates once they enter the work force. It is advantageous to start integration of design into the engineering curriculum at the freshman level, where engineering creativity can be effectively introduced. The second course of a two-semester freshmen Creative Engineering sequence is the focus of the freshmen design plans presented in this paper. This course sequence was the result of a NSF funded project on "Development of a Freshman Engineering Curriculum" at Prairie View A&M University. A successfully tested innovative approach for teaching design at the freshmen level is discussed. The ability of freshmen to design, fabricate and test simple engineering systems is also discussed and demonstrated. The result of this strategy is that the students are able to work in teams on integrated projects (such as the Sunrayce, FutureCar Challenge and Hybrid Vehicle projects) required in the senior year. This experience makes the student highly successful in the modern design environment.