GEORGIA PERIMETER COLLEGE

MATHEMATICS/COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

TEACHING GUIDE ENGR-1603

 

I.                     Introduction to Engineering

 

II.                   Prerequisite: Math 1113 (Pre-calculus) with a C or better.

 

III.                  Text: Engineering Fundamentals and Problem Solving, 4th edition by Eide, Jenison, Mashaw and Northup, The McGraw Hill Companies, Inc.

 

IV.                Catalog Description:

The course provides students with an overview of various engineering disciplines to assist them in making well-informed career choices in the profession. Key topics include exploring the nature of the field and career opportunities in civil, chemical, electrical, mechanical and other major disciplines; tools of technical communication; recording and analyzing data; dimensional analysis; computational techniques of approximate solutions; and basic statistical tools for quality control.

 

V.                  Course objectives:

a.            To distinguish between major fields of the engineering profession and identify various career possibilities within any given field.

b.            To learn values (ethics) and responsibilities of an engineer.

c.            To describe and use customary and SI system of units, converting various physical quantities from one system to the other.

d.            To state and compute various types of errors and check their propagation.

e.            To collect and record technical data, using different graph scales and coordinates to represent data and establish empirical relationships.

f.              To introduce statistical terms as they are applied in quality control, computing by least squares the best fit for the data and determining the correlation coefficient.

g.            To describe and use basic terms in engineering economics.

h.            To distinguish approximate and exact solutions to equations and explore methods to find roots of equations in one variable.

 

VI.                General notes:

i.                     This is the first engineering course for students who want to major in engineering and therefore the instructor should place emphasis on:

a.      motivating students in developing problem-solving skills in S.I. and customary units,

b.      presenting solutions in a logical manner,

c.      subject areas common to most engineering disciplines

d.      the means of gathering information on many engineering branches

ii.                   The instructor should provide additional notes to supplement certain topics, especially on the need and methods of numerically solving problems and organizational abilities.

iii.                  Advisors are expected to recommend students take this course before they take other courses in engineering program.

 

VII.               Course Outline:

Engineering Profession: Chapter 1 all sections.  (1.5,1.6,1.7 and 1.8 optional)

Engineering Solutions: Chapter 3 all sections.          

Representation of Technical Information: Chapter 4 all sections

Engineering Estimations and Approximations: Chapter 5 all sections

Dimensions and Units: Chapter 6 all sections.

Preparations for computer solutions: Chapter 7

Statistics: Chapter 8 all sections (8.5,6 and 7 are optional)

Material Balance: Chapter 10 all sections.

Energy: Chapter 12

Engineering Economy: Chapter 13 all sections.

 

VIII.             Evaluation:

The details of grade determination are flexible however one recommended procedure would be to weigh the four components as follows:

Labs/Homework: 15%-25%

Tests (three): 30%

Project 20-25%

A comprehensive final examination is required: 25-30%

The project should be based on a topic that will assist students in making informed choice of their career possibilities in engineering discipline. Instructor should encourage students to gather information using World Wide Web for their project.

 

Revised date: August, 2002                                                     Adoption date: August, 2001.