TEACHING ADVANCED MODELING OF MULTIBODY MECHANISMS TO NON- TRADITIONAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS

Traditional entry-level mechanics courses serve two fundamentally different objectives. On the one hand, they present a self-contained progression of problem-solving paradigms addressing particular categories of engineering situations without any specific reference to higher-level thinking or the challenges of actual systems. They provide a necessary backdrop for the further professional development of an engineering-science or mechanical-engineering student but, typically, do not generate much interest in other populations of engineering students. On the other hand, undergraduate instruction into the subject of classical mechanics constitutes a first attempt at incorporating the mathematics taught in the undergraduate linear-algebra and calculus sequences with real-world applications, developing ideas of physical and mathematical modeling, assessing the relevance of physical phenomena, the appreciation of modeling assumptions, and the formulation of scientific inquiry. These are skills that we expect of all engineering students, but that typically are not strongly developed in existing curricula. There is a strong need for courses designed with the goal of bridging the gap between the stated objectives and current curricular realizations. To address these issues, this paper describes a recently developed course that relies on the concept of problem-based learning to allow the student to accumulate theoretical knowledge, develop intuitive insight, and perfect a practical know-how into the modeling and visualization of complex mechanical systems and their motions. Particular emphasis is placed on a framework that appeals to the educational background, interests, and perspectives of computer-savvy students. In particular, focus is on general skills, rather than the ability to solve cooked-up problems. Active learning strategies and truly cooperative learning constitute an overwhelming part of the course design, the culmination of which is a team animation project incorporating material from throughout the course and accounting for a majority of the course grade.