An overview of teaching physics for undergraduates in engineering environments

Abstract

This paper is an overview of approaches to teaching physics courses delivered to students of engineering disciplines. It addresses, first, the history of teaching physics to engineering students starting in the early 20th century, then reviews the main issues presented and discussed over the last decade in a series of conferences on Physics Teaching in Engineering Education (PTEE). Finally, this paper discusses more contemporary views on the subject, including the latest technologies and new methodologies. It is not a critical review of teaching physics to engineering students, but rather a summary of various views and approaches over the span of the entire century. The common denominator of the study is the relevance to the competency-based approach: how the papers focus on teaching engineers the principles of physics in a manner that contributes to success in their professional careers. © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Keywords

Author Keywords

Engineering education physics teaching Project-and problem-based learning

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations

Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL, United States

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, United States

Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Arlington, VA, United States

Funding & Acknowledgements

U.S. Air Force Academy, USAFA

Funding text 1: Acknowledgments: Janusz Zalewski acknowledges consecutive Summer Fellowships from the Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship Program (SFFP) at the U.S. Air Force Academy in 2018 and 2019. The authors would like to thank Dr. Kimberly de la Harpe and Dr. Jessica Dwyer from the Center of Physics Education Research at the United States Air Force Academy for their interest in this project and useful comments on the paper.; Funding text 2: Janusz Zalewski acknowledges consecutive Summer Fellowships from the Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship Program (SFFP) at the U.S. Air Force Academy in 2018 and 2019. The authors would like to thank Dr. Kimberly de la Harpe and Dr. Jessica Dwyer from the Center of Physics Education Research at the United States Air Force Academy for their interest in this project and useful comments on the paper.

References 10 References

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An overview of teaching physics for undergraduates in engineering environments

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