Search Results (145)

Live case studies are widely used in higher education to support active learning; however, their pedagogical potential is often limited by weak integration with learning theories and assessments. This research-to-practice study examines the systematic design of live case studies by integrating Kolb’s experiential learning cycle (ELC) and authentic assessment (AA) principles. This paper presents a framework that conceptualises live cases as the learning context, ELC as the learning process, and AA as evaluative logic. The framework is illustrated through a case study of an undergraduate Quality Management module in industrial engineering at a Mexican university, involving 31 final-year students. The study is design-oriented and illustrative, aiming to demonstrate framework enactment rather than evaluating causal effectiveness. Using a case study methodology, the instructional design and enactment were documented using the ADDIE model. Data were obtained from educational artefacts, assessment results, and student feedback surveys. The findings suggest that aligning teaching and assessment activities with the ELC stages and the AA principles effectively supports learning trajectories. This support covers experience, reflection, conceptualisation, and application. Live case studies enabled the integration of multiple assessment methods around shared organisational problems and supported personalised learning through students’ case selection. This study contributes a design logic and operational framework for distributing authentic assessment across Kolb’s experiential learning stages within live case pedagogy. Rather than offering statistical generalisation, the framework serves as a foundation for adaptation and research, emphasising transferability across disciplines, educational levels, and delivery modes. Limitations are acknowledged regarding the conceptual scope, methodological design, and empirical context. Full article

Sustainable computing is now a mainstream expectation of the profession, yet its treatment in higher education remains uneven, and often reflects assumptions of stable power, affordable connectivity, and frequent hardware refresh. This conceptual paper offers a critical synthesis of the misalignment between globally promoted sustainability competencies and the infrastructural realities of African higher education. We argue that when curricula designed for resource-abundant settings are adopted without adaptation in contexts shaped by energy volatility, high data costs, and complex device ecologies, a design–reality gap emerges: students may learn the language of sustainability but lack the practical competence to engineer resilient, resource-aware systems. Employing an explanatory synthesis of two evidence pools, i.e., global work on sustainable computing education and Africa-focused scholarship on infrastructure constraints, we propose the Context-Aware Sustainable Computing Education Framework. The framework integrates three dimensions of reform: pedagogy that shifts from awareness to context-aware action competence through constraint-led challenges, curriculum reform that embeds frugal computing and lifecycle stewardship as technical rigour within core modules, and an infrastructure-as-driver stance that treats the campus energy and device environment as a living laboratory for responsible trade-offs. We conclude with tiered implementation pathways, showing how departments can progress from minimum viable changes to institutional approaches. The synthesis positions African universities as credible contributors to global thinking on resilient computing under tightening resource constraints. Full article

Since the late Qing, Christianity helped reconfigure China’s modern intellectual landscape not simply by importing “Western knowledge” but by constructing the epistemic frameworks through which knowledge was named, classified, and circulated. This article examines how the Christian idea of “homemaking” was scientized through translation and became jiazheng (家政, Home Economics) in Republican China, emerging as a new discipline within women’s education. It centers on Laura Marsden White (1867–1937), an American Protestant missionary and pioneer of women’s education who founded China’s first Christian women’s monthly, Nüduo (The Woman’s Messenger, 1912–1951) and initiated its jiazheng column as an institutional infrastructure for domestic science knowledge. Foregrounding White as a missionary–translator and translingual mediator, this study argues that her work participated in the construction of modern home economics rather than merely transmitting a ready-made field. Strategically aligning her translation with Confucian gendered ethics, White rendered home economics intelligible as jiazheng while simultaneously reorganizing household practices into a systematic, science-based curriculum. By circulating scientific knowledge, standardized curricular categories, and credentialed forms of expertise, White recast women’s domestic responsibilities as socially recognized knowledge and employable labor. Her translation offered Chinese women a historically specific route into schooling, writing, and public service, allowing them to negotiate the traditional gender divide without abandoning the culturally legible language of the family. Translation thus serves as both a medium of Protestant moral pedagogy and an engine of disciplinary formation and gendered social change. Full article

Universities are struggling in a continuously changing environment surrounded by both accelerated digitalization and increasingly influential Artificial Intelligence. However, experiential learning stemming from direct visualization still relies on traditional tools and supporting materials. This work presents how a historic geology museum can serve as a pedagogical innovation for Civil Engineering students despite the challenges universities face amid accelerating digitalization. The geological collections of the School of Civil Engineering at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, neglected for decades, have recently been restored and transformed into a dynamic university museum that now plays a significant role in both degree and MEng education. This museum preserves several Paleolithic collections assembled by its professors since the school’s establishment in 1802. Historical and museological research confirms that these holdings—2471 minerals, 4555 rocks, 2012 fossils, archeological materials, and a unique set of 1200 formatted stone samples from 19th- and early 20th-century Spanish quarries—constitute one of the oldest and most comprehensive geological collections preserved in a Spanish engineering institution. The museum’s revitalization is implying new research on several sub-collections, still in progress. In summary, the historical museum has been integrated into Civil Engineering teaching, supporting experiential and lifelong learning in geology and geotechnics. Furthermore, the museum serves as an innovative tool for teaching geology to secondary school students, promoting innovation in teaching practices and scientific dissemination, and encouraging interest in Earth sciences. Overall, the museum is becoming a valuable resource for innovative pedagogy to respond to the lifelong learning implications of STEM educational practices. Full article

Engineering education often emphasizes technical competencies while underemphasizing and devaluing the social, ethical, and political contexts of engineering systems. This gap is particularly pronounced in middle-year courses, where students develop technical fluency but rarely confront the sociotechnical complexity of real-world problems. We propose sociotechnical judgment as a framework to help students see the intimately intertwining nature of technical knowledge and social, ethical, and contextual reasoning, using energy systems—particularly offshore wind—as an illustrative domain. We designed three course-integrated case studies in thermodynamics, circuits, and statics/dynamics to embed sociotechnical judgment in middle-year engineering courses. These cases include pedagogical strategies, such as project-based learning, problem-based learning, and role-play exercises connecting technical analysis with social, environmental, and policy considerations. The design of these case studies is rooted in real-world problems surrounding U.S. offshore wind, engineering science learning outcomes, and ABET student outcomes. In these pedagogies, we have created opportunities for students to analyze technical systems while engaging with social, ecological, and political factors. Offshore wind projects, including turbine siting, transmission system design, and efficiency trade-offs, provide opportunities to operationalize sociotechnical reasoning in authentic, regionally relevant contexts. Sociotechnical judgment provides a practical framework for bridging technical competency and contextual reasoning in engineering education. Integrating sociotechnical cases into core courses will prepare students to navigate complex, real-world systems through engagement with ethical, social, and environmental considerations inherent in engineering practice. Full article

Comparative analysis of nanostructured multilayer Cr/(Cr/a-C)ml coatings on HS6-5-2 steel was carried out. The coatings were deposited at various chromium target power values using PVD technology, particularly the magnetron sputtering method. The effect of different technological regimes on the properties of the nanostructured multilayer Cr/(Cr/a-C)ml coatings was studied. Identical characterization methods were used for the three types of coatings obtained. Cross-sections of the coated samples were prepared in order to directly determine the thickness of the resulting coatings, their uniformity, and the presence of defects or imperfections, both at the substrate–coating interface and within the coatings themselves. Calotest and Daimler-Benz adhesion test were also performed to evaluate the coated layers’ thickness and evaluate their adhesion strength. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analyses were carried out to define the chemical composition of the multilayered coatings. To evaluate the hardness and modulus of elasticity of the resulting coatings, nanoindentation measurements were also conducted. The data obtained under the three different deposition regimes were analyzed and compared, which allowed us to assess the influence of the chromium target power during the deposition process on the properties of the obtained coatings. Full article

Jordan’s masonry archaeology across limestone, sandstone, and basalt faces escalating threats from a disconnect between conservation and architectural education. Though Jordanian archaeology has evolved into a multidisciplinary field, architecture curricula prioritize technical training over the engineering complexities of endangered sites. This study argues that engaging future architects with ancient engineering as recoverable technical knowledge, rather than as objects for specialist intervention, is essential for cultivating advocates of archaeology. It aims to develop a constructivist framework for architectural archaeology that reorients education from mere intervention toward knowledge transfer through reverse engineering. A mixed-methods experiment with architecture students at Hashemite University engaged participants in deconstructing ancient techniques through digital documentation and structural simulation and then reconstructing this knowledge for contemporary applications. A four-domain framework operationalized object-laden epistemology (technical acquisition) and value-laden ontology (constructed advocacy). Findings revealed four transformative outcomes: science-making (recovering ancient engineering as legitimate knowledge); heritage-making (sites becoming living practice); temporality-making (past–present dialogue within presentism and futurism); and advocacy-making (students as ‘custodian-transmitters’ assuming professional stewardship). By integrating architectural archaeology into core curricula, this framework reaches future architects beyond specialized programs, addressing regional gaps in community support for endangered heritage while maintaining critical reflexivity regarding power and selection in archaeological discourse. Full article

The challenge of designing generative AI (GenAI) tutors that are both pedagogically sound and effective for guided inquiry remains significant. This paper introduces and evaluates a replicable design framework-termed a Pedagogy-to-Prompt Engineering Framework-that systematically translates established pedagogical models into structured AI interactions. We engineered a 5E-structured GenAI coach by integrating the 5E Learning Cycle as the instructional architecture and the 5S Prompting Principles to govern the AI’s dialogue. The coach was evaluated in a middle school chemistry context (N = 60) focusing on procedural skill acquisition for balancing chemical equations. A quasi-experimental study showed the GenAI group achieved significantly higher learning gains than a control group receiving traditional instruction (t(58) = 2.646, p = 0.011, Cohen’s d = 0.68). Crucially, a Johnson-Neyman analysis revealed that the coach was particularly beneficial for students with lower prior knowledge (pre-test scores < 39.39), effectively narrowing the achievement gap. Furthermore, Lag Sequential Analysis of the interaction logs confirmed that the student-AI dialogue successfully adhered to the intended 5E pedagogical sequence (e.g., Engage → Explore transition, z = 11.157). This study demonstrates that the proposed framework is a viable method for creating effective, scalable AI-driven learning environments. Beyond chemistry, this approach is readily adaptable to other STEM disciplines requiring guided inquiry, such as physics and mathematics. By validating a low-code, pedagogy-first methodology, this work offers a scalable blueprint for instructional designers to bridge the gap between generative AI capabilities and rigorous educational standards. Full article

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the CONGA game, an interactive and gamified digital tool that uses AI-generated or manually created questions with feedback, to improve colon cancer literacy among tenth- semester Software Engineering students at the University of Guayaquil. Grounded in Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy, CONGA operationalizes the concept of “conscientização” (critical consciousness awakening) by engaging learners in dialogical reflection on medical myths and encouraging critical evaluation of health information sources. This work addresses an age group—emerging adulthood—that is often overlooked in cancer prevention campaigns despite increasing cancer incidence in this population. The game incorporates an adaptive engine that personalizes difficulty and scoring based on player performance, enhancing engagement and learning personalization. A controlled experiment compared the game-based intervention with traditional lecture-based instruction, using pre- and post-test assessments to measure knowledge gains and misconception reduction. Results demonstrated that the CONGA group achieved a significantly higher post-test correct response rate of 82%, compared to 57% in the traditional instruction group, and showed a 70.4% reduction in incorrect responses versus 42.4% in the control group. These findings indicate that CONGA’s adaptive, feedback-driven design was more effective in enhancing short-term knowledge acquisition and immediate conceptual clarification following a single session. The study concludes that, based on immediate post-intervention assessments, gamified learning represents a scalable and engaging pedagogical strategy for colon cancer literacy, particularly in our local younger population. However, these results reflect short-term learning gains measured immediately after a single session, and further research is needed to evaluate long-term knowledge acquisition. Full article

Effective team formation strategies must account for baseline behavioral diversity within student populations, yet most approaches apply uniform parameters regardless of section characteristics. This exploratory, quasi-experimental study proposes a context-sensitive framework for Team Role Experience and Orientation (TREO)-based team formation across two sections of a road geometric design course (N = 77 civil engineering undergraduates). We systematically evaluated 80 team formation configurations per section (16 thresholds × 5 group sizes) to maximize structural differentiation between role-balanced and role-redundant teams. Baseline diagnostics revealed substantial differences in role diversity, justifying independent optimization. Section A (role-redundant) achieved strong structural separation, whereas Section B (role-diverse) showed weak or negative separation across all configurations, reflecting limitations in achieving consistent complementarity contrasts. Post-project surveys assessed perceived role complementarity, team dynamics, and performance. Across both sections, perceptual differences between conditions were small and non-significant, indicating that structural role differentiation does not automatically translate into subjective team experience. However, perceptual trends varied systematically by baseline diversity, highlighting the moderating role of section composition. These findings emphasize the importance of diagnostic indices (R_ef, IDR) for selecting and interpreting team formation strategies and support the use of adaptive, context-sensitive approaches in engineering education. Full article

Innovative pedagogies that nurture higher-order competencies such as autonomy and problem-solving are critical in graduate STEM contexts. This study conceptualizes Thinking Classrooms as a pedagogical framework for graduate engineering education and examines how classroom practices associated with this approach support the development of autonomous learning and complex problem-solving. Drawing on classroom-based evidence collected over multiple academic cohorts in a master’s program in mechanical engineering, we describe patterns of student engagement, instructor adaptations, and evolving learning behaviors. Our findings highlight the potential of Thinking Classroom principles to inform instructional design, foster learner agency, and strengthen disciplinary problem-solving practices in postgraduate engineering education. We discuss implications for curriculum development and future research directions in STEM education. Full article

The Fourth Industrial Revolution reshapes manufacturing and workforce demands, yet a persistent gap remains between industry needs and engineering education. While proficiency in industrial robotics, adaptive control, and automation becomes critical, traditional education struggles to bridge the theory–practice divide. This systematic review examines technology transfer from factory to classroom to develop authentic Industry 4.0 competencies. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, we synthesized 52 empirical studies (2019–2025) focusing on technology complexity, pedagogical approaches, and learning outcomes. Random-effects meta-analysis of 12 representative studies reveals large positive effects: Hedges’ g of 0.786 (95% CI: 0.726–0.846, p < 0.001) with homogeneous effects ($I^2$ = 0.00%, p = 0.464), indicating robust generalizability. However, critical gaps emerged: only 7.7% employ actual industrial manipulators versus educational kits, adaptive control pedagogy remains limited, and fault-tolerant systems teaching receives minimal attention. Technology complexity analysis reveals clear progression from educational kits through semi-industrial platforms to industrial systems, with significant differential effects on transferable skills (r = 0.68, p < 0.001). This study proposes the ARC Framework integrating technology taxonomy, competency progression, pedagogical strategies, and assessment rubrics. Cost–effectiveness analysis demonstrates remote labs optimize impact-per-investment ratios ($45 vs. $280 per student), providing an evidence-based framework for technology transfer in engineering education. Full article

Test specimens fabricated from 42CrMo4 steel were subjected to heat treatment comprising quenching followed by high-temperature tempering. This treatment is commonly referred to as hardening, and the result is a tempered sorbite microstructure that provides a balanced combination of strength and plasticity. In order to improve the hardness and wear resistance of the contact surfaces, two types of physical vapor deposition (PVD) coatings were deposited onto the specimens: the first was a two-component architecture Cr/CrTiAl and the second was a multilayer Cr/(CrTiAl)N/CrTiAl. In both configurations, an intermediate chromium adhesion layer was initially deposited to enhance interfacial bonding with the substrate. The adhesion strength of the deposited coatings to the steel substrates was evaluated using a standardized adhesion test. The adhesion quality was classified as HF1 (the highest adhesion class in the HF1–HF6 scale, defined in EN ISO 26443), indicating excellent interfacial bonding. The hardness and modulus of elasticity of both coatings were determined through nanoindentation. According to the measured hardness values of the two coatings, 27.3 GPa (Cr/CrTiAl) and 37.5 GPa (Cr/(CrTiAl)N/CrTiAl), they can be classified as hard coatings (hardness greater than 20 GPa). Despite the difference in hardness, the two coatings have comparable elastic modulus values: Eit = 353 GPa for the two-component architecture coating and Eit = 349 GPa for the three-component architecture coating. Tribological characterization was performed using the ball-on-disc method under dry sliding conditions over a total sliding distance of 59 m, whereby the friction coefficient (µ) was recorded. Additionally, the wear rate of the applied coatings was calculated from the measured wear volumes or profiles. The two coatings have comparable friction coefficient values (Cr/CrTiAl–μ = 0.362, Cr/(CrTiAl)N/CrTiAl–μ = 0.325), but the three-component architecture coating Cr/(CrTiAl)N/CrTiAl has a lower wear rate (k = 1.64 × 10⁻⁴) compared to the two-component architecture coating Cr/CrTiAl, which has a wear rate of k = 7.6 × 10⁻⁴. The investigated coatings have hardness, modulus of elasticity and friction coefficient values competitive with those of nitride coatings (two-component architecture and three-component architecture), and their wear rate also corresponds to generally accepted values. Full article

This study develops an analytical description of the motion of dilute solid particles in the boundary layer of laminar horizontal flows subjected to weak transverse pulsations. The analysis is formulated for dilute spherical solid particles subjected to transverse velocity pulsations in a laminar boundary-layer flow. A coupled matrix representation of the governing equations is formulated, and closed-form solutions are obtained using Laplace transformation. The analytical expressions capture transient evolution, forced oscillations, resonance effects, and long-term behaviour for particles with different density ratios. Numerical evaluation shows that light particles migrate toward faster regions of the boundary layer and accelerate longitudinally, while heavy particles move toward slower layers and decelerate. Transverse pulsations generate oscillatory trajectories whose amplitude increases near resonance. Impulsive perturbations superimposed on the continuous motion lead to discontinuous transitions consistent with the linear matrix system. The results provide a unified physical interpretation of particle redistribution mechanisms in boundary layers and offer a compact analytical tool for dilute multiphase flow modelling. Full article

The content and career cluster of agriculture, food, and natural resources (AFNR) provides opportunities for K-12 teachers to engage students to solve complex authentic problems that blend science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), yet limited research has been conducted on how to effectively leverage teaching and learning to integrate STEM using the context of AFNR through the school-based agricultural education program. This conceptual paper was developed through a collaborative sensemaking process focused on systems thinking as a way of knowing to integrate STEM within the contexts of AFNR, utilizing the SBAE program in the United States. A comprehensive career and technical education (CTE) program model of SBAE develops secondary education students’ career readiness skills through classroom and laboratory instruction, leadership development, and supervised agricultural experiences. The literature was reviewed to describe the current status of integrated STEM in SBAE, including learning by doing, solving real-world problems, application of content knowledge in out-of-school and community-based settings, learner-centered pedagogies, and development of career readiness skills for the workforce. By employing systems thinking as the theoretical framework and integrated STEM as a conceptual framework, the authors engaged in collaborative sensemaking of their professional and scholarly experiences and proposed findings and discussion of a three-model framework (i.e., teacher, program, and learning approach) to support integrated STEM education through AFNR and SBAE. Limitations of the framework are also discussed. The AFNR career cluster was used as the context to discuss how the three-model framework (i.e., teacher, program, and learning approach) of integrated STEM through AFNR could be operationalized for SBAE. Discussion and implications of the three-model framework for other career clusters in career and technical education (CTE) and non-formal education in community settings are presented. Conclusions and recommendations are provided for advancing STEM integration in SBAE for teacher development, program development, and research. Full article