Integrated development of programming skills using MATLAB within an undergraduate dynamics course

Abstract

This project introduces a method of teaching undergraduate students MATLAB programming within a typical engineering lecture course, dynamics. This particular course was chosen because its content offers natural connections between engineering and programming concepts. The MATLAB programming instruction and assignments were approached through the context of the dynamics course material. This allowed students to make connections between their typical dynamics course content and the more abstract programming concepts which can sometimes be difficult for them to understand. This idea was indicated to be effective through anonymous student comments from student evaluations.