Teaching statics using agile methodologies

Abstract

Statics in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at North Carolina State University is taught as a flipped class, a format which works well for the majority but not the totality of students. Agile methodologies such as Scrum have shown good results for improving time management and communication in the workplace. A small pilot class (10 students) was taught using agile methods with the goals of teaching students to work effectively in teams, to manage their time effectively, and to take ownership of their learning. The first two midterms for students in the pilot section were lower than those in the flipped sections but not outside of the standard deviation of the flipped sections. These early grades and student surveys led to restructuring the in-class activities for the pilot class to be more like the flipped class. Future work will need to focus on better training for the students and the professors. Students enjoyed the Scrum class more than they did the less innovative second half of the semester. Overall, this small pilot showed some promise as a way of teaching mechanical engineering with greater student ownership of learning. Agile methodologies hold considerable promise especially for higher-level classes such as mechanical senior design.