Downloads & Free Reading Options - Results

Engineering mechanics is recognized as one of the core subject matter areas of most engineering and technology educational programs. The study of mechanics and particularly the applications of problem solving to rigid bodies at rest (statics) has proven to be troublesome to students. Systematic problem solving includes analysis, synthesis, and calculations. There is evidence to indicate that students gain broader insights into analysis and synthesis when freed from detailed computational method. The computerized model relieves the students of the mechanics of calculation and checks the students' analysis and synthesis of a broad range of statics problems on an individualized basis. The function and structure of the model is discussed. Two populations of students were used in testing the model. One group consisted of eight sophomore engineering students, who had completed a computer programming course. The second group consisted of 27 freshman technology students who had not completed a computer programming course. The overall attitudes of both groups were positive toward the model on the pretest. Engineering students became more positive on the posttest. Technology students became significantly negative on the posttest. It was suggested that technology students probably would have gained more from the model if they also had had to turn in problems. (LS)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert