Browsing by Author "Marasco, Emily Ann"

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    Development of a CDIO-Based Creative Cross-Disciplinary Curriculum and Associated Projects for Elementary Engineering Education
    (2013-09-23) Marasco, Emily Ann; Behjat, Laleh
    This thesis presents the development of a creative, cross-curricular project series using the CDIO framework for engineering education to integrate engineering concepts and the Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board graduate attributes. The work in this thesis was targeted towards fifth grade students and their teachers, adapting the CDIO process to create an electrical engineering curriculum appropriate for elementary school, called Exploring Electrical Engineering. As studies show that students begin to lose interest in the domains of science, technology, mathematics and engineering during grades 4/5/6, this work also demonstrates how creative, hands-on projects and positive role models improve the perceptions that grade five students have towards engineering, and towards their consideration of engineering as a future career path. Through these contributions, the creative, cross-curricular CDIO-based Exploring Electrical Engineering program is demonstrated to have positive effects on young students while introducing them to engineering concepts and attributes.
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    Integration of Innovation Techniques for Electronics Design and Education
    (2018-09-21) Marasco, Emily Ann; Behjat, Laleh; Rosehart, William Daniel; Nygren, Anders; Eggermont, Marjan J.; Kelly, Robert; Taylor, Lynn; McCahan, Susan
    Creative ability and innovative design have become essential skills for engineers as industries continue to face increasing technical challenges. Current engineering education initiatives focus on creativity within introductory and senior design courses, with limited work related to creative ability development within technical engineering courses. This thesis presents three contributions for integrating creative thinking and development in technical electrical and computer engineering education. The first contribution is the development of a course design architecture for planning courses with integrated creative learning outcomes. The second contribution is the development of a formalized project structure for designing technical projects that develop creative skills. The third contribution is the design of a hierarchy for developing creative thinking through divergent and convergent thinking processes. The developed approaches integrate concepts from engineering design processes, project management, entrepreneurship, arts education techniques, and game-based learning to create a unique set of standards for creative learning. The creativity and innovation pedagogy presented in this work will contribute to the development of emerging engineers capable of designing the technologies and solutions of the future.