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ASEE-SE Annual Conference 2022

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Building A 100% Online Aerospace Engineering Virtual Summer Camp For High School Students

The prevalence of distance and virtual education has been on the rise in recent years and with the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of this method of transferring knowledge has been made apparent. While virtual engineering curriculum has largely been adapted from in-person coursework which relies heavily on hands-on activities and demonstrations, development of curriculum with an emphasis on virtual learning from the beginning is key to the success of these programs. Due to COVID-19, engineering summer camps offered by North Carolina State University (NCSU) shifted to a virtual format for the summer of 2021 and required a new curriculum to be designed with an emphasis on providing a hands-on experience in a virtual environment. The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering created a curriculum which included a student-build wind tunnel used to demonstrate the fundamentals of lift, drag, flight stability, and more advanced topics such as aeroelasticity. A popular engineering game was adopted as a teaching tool to explain astronautics concepts like mission planning and orbital mechanics. Supplies for these activities were prepared and shipped to students prior to the start of camp. Each week-long camp was conducted via Zoom and led by a team consisting of an NCSU graduate student, three sophomores, and a faculty advisor. Multiple camp instructors allowed a greater emphasis on direct instruction and led to more interactions between students and instructors. Anonymous student feedback following the completion of the camps showed overwhelmingly positive results with a majority of students showing interest in pursuing an engineering degree with multiple students expressing interest in attending NCSU.

Michael Hughes
North Carolina State University
United States

Felix Ewere
North Carolina State University
United States

 


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