A new integrated first-year core curriculum in engineering, mathematics, and science: a proposal

The development of a first-year curriculum in engineering, mathematics, and science using a formal problem-solving methodology is considered. The objective for the first-year curriculum is presented and the present solution to the problem is examined. An alternative solution is also explored. The alternative approach first decomposes the curriculum into generic concepts and then focuses the expertise and energies of disciplines to illuminate the capacity of each generic concept to observe, describe, predict, and interact with the physical world. Generic concepts which have been identified in the first-year curriculum include data acquisition and analysis, problem-solving techniques, functional relationships, equilibrium, rate of change, force, work and energy, and momentum. The resulting new core curriculum builds on concepts which naturally span the disciplines of mathematics, computer science, chemistry, physics, graphics, and engineering design through classroom instruction, laboratory experiments, and extended projects, all designed to enable the students to build a stronger conceptual foundation for their future engineering education