A Problem Formulation Project in Statics for Connecting the Theory to Daily Application

A project was an integrated part of the Statics course as the means towards the desired ability: the problem formulation, approximation and hand-on experiences. Students started to recognize mechanical structures in everyday life. Then, they had to study, formulate a well-defined problem by approximation with numerical justification before analyzing the structures. A table of rubric was used in the marking process to ensure a standard across the class. A side effect of the rubric was less complicate structures were selected for study as students strived to minimally satisfy the marking guideline. This situation was acceptable as the simplistic structures required all main learning components. The project also tried to account for some program outcomes that were obtained by thorough integration into the curriculum, namely the basic experimental skills on measurement and the academic honesty. Even though these program outcomes were not fully realized, they were but the first step which was to be repeated and reinforced.