Teaching introductory fluids through fountain design

Neophyte engineering students have difficulty conceptualizing fluid concepts, and have little understanding of the design process. The fountain concept development, prototyping, design, and fountain building process allows students to experience the iterative nature of design while they developed an intuitive basis for learning and remembering fluids fundamentals. The students were divided into teams and given a budget of $20/team. The final report included concept development, fountain features, design approach, materials list, budget, engineering drawings, and design calculations. The students gave the project a very positive review, resulting in the civil engineering (CE) and engineering technology (ET) introductory fluids classes using the project during the spring semester 2003.