Taylor Sharpe | Portland State University (original) (raw)

Papers by Taylor Sharpe

2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings, 2015

Taylor Sharpe is a mechanical engineering student at Portland State University. He is involved in... more Taylor Sharpe is a mechanical engineering student at Portland State University. He is involved in initiatives involving science education, rural public health and monitoring, and renewable energy / energy efficiency technologies. He is the co-founder and pedagogy/communications lead for Physics in Motion, a student team working to integrate physical teaching devices into the existing Physics with Calculus Workshop program run by the Portland State Physics Department. Mr. Geng Qin, Portland State University Geng Qin is a mechanical engineering student at Portland State University. He is committed to science education, innovative design, and stage performance. He is the co-founder and design lead for Physics in Motion. Physics in Motion is working to integrate physical teaching devices into the existing Physics with Calculus Workshop program run by the Portland State Physics Department. Research from the past three decades has found that an interactive engagement approach to teaching the sciences which involves physical interaction with systems helps students build effective mental models. Our team of engineering students has developed a novel tabletop teaching device called the Touchstone Model 1 (TM1) designed to help incoming students solidify and retain knowledge of first-term General Physics in an iterative manner. The device is a combination of classic physics models: a pendulum of adjustable length, a rail system including an incline plane, a rolling ball/weight, and a ball launcher. An integrated microcontroller combines these conceptual models, and allows the difficulty of the problem to be adjusted by including or excluding new physics concepts in tandem with the lecture curriculum. The design is informed by a pedagogical model based on giving students open-ended problems that require a network of conceptual knowledge. This hybrid hands-on and inductive model could increase student motivation to more deeply understand concepts that have often been difficult to learn. A prototype device has been partially integrated into Portland State University's existing Physics with Calculus Workshop curriculum, being used in three of nine weekly sessions. At the end of the term, anonymous questionnaires were used to gauge student interest in the device as a learning and motivation tool in the workshop environment, informing future research and development of the device. The data from the student surveys was also used to create a more formal assessment of student knowledge gains. Positive results were seen in both categories, with unanimous student approval and a small median increase in test scores. A second prototype is under development, and could be more fully integrated into the workshop model in the future. Precision machining and an integrated microcontroller could build on the initial prototype and can be thought of as a modular, highly-predictable Rube Goldberg machine. A novel aspect of this work is that the device was conceived, developed, fabricated and tested entirely by undergraduate engineering students. Another distinctive feature is that an Arduino microcontroller provides the data collection and control of the apparatus, allowing for great curriculum mobility.

2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings, 2015

Taylor Sharpe is a mechanical engineering student at Portland State University. He is involved in... more Taylor Sharpe is a mechanical engineering student at Portland State University. He is involved in initiatives involving science education, rural public health and monitoring, and renewable energy / energy efficiency technologies. He is the co-founder and pedagogy/communications lead for Physics in Motion, a student team working to integrate physical teaching devices into the existing Physics with Calculus Workshop program run by the Portland State Physics Department. Mr. Geng Qin, Portland State University Geng Qin is a mechanical engineering student at Portland State University. He is committed to science education, innovative design, and stage performance. He is the co-founder and design lead for Physics in Motion. Physics in Motion is working to integrate physical teaching devices into the existing Physics with Calculus Workshop program run by the Portland State Physics Department. Research from the past three decades has found that an interactive engagement approach to teaching the sciences which involves physical interaction with systems helps students build effective mental models. Our team of engineering students has developed a novel tabletop teaching device called the Touchstone Model 1 (TM1) designed to help incoming students solidify and retain knowledge of first-term General Physics in an iterative manner. The device is a combination of classic physics models: a pendulum of adjustable length, a rail system including an incline plane, a rolling ball/weight, and a ball launcher. An integrated microcontroller combines these conceptual models, and allows the difficulty of the problem to be adjusted by including or excluding new physics concepts in tandem with the lecture curriculum. The design is informed by a pedagogical model based on giving students open-ended problems that require a network of conceptual knowledge. This hybrid hands-on and inductive model could increase student motivation to more deeply understand concepts that have often been difficult to learn. A prototype device has been partially integrated into Portland State University's existing Physics with Calculus Workshop curriculum, being used in three of nine weekly sessions. At the end of the term, anonymous questionnaires were used to gauge student interest in the device as a learning and motivation tool in the workshop environment, informing future research and development of the device. The data from the student surveys was also used to create a more formal assessment of student knowledge gains. Positive results were seen in both categories, with unanimous student approval and a small median increase in test scores. A second prototype is under development, and could be more fully integrated into the workshop model in the future. Precision machining and an integrated microcontroller could build on the initial prototype and can be thought of as a modular, highly-predictable Rube Goldberg machine. A novel aspect of this work is that the device was conceived, developed, fabricated and tested entirely by undergraduate engineering students. Another distinctive feature is that an Arduino microcontroller provides the data collection and control of the apparatus, allowing for great curriculum mobility.