Toward a New Approach to Teaching Problem Solving in Dynamics

Introductory Dynamics is one of the first engineering courses taken by most engineering students. An activity was, in essence, a project that required the solution of a difficult problem. The level of complexity of these problems was such that teamwork was absolutely essential to complete the activity in the allocated time. Within each activity, the notion that Dynamics is about modeling mechanical systems to develop mathematical equations that can predict their behavior (largely for the purpose of design) was strongly emphasized. In addition, each activity required the students to work in teams and to either take on or assign roles for each of the team members. Engineering courses in mechanics differ from their companion courses offered by physics departments in that, in engineering, there is a strong emphasis on engineering standards and design, on the one hand, and on the acquisition of effective problem-solving techniques, on the other.