educonference21

Teaching STEM in Higher Education with Acoustical Engineering
Providing strong foundational STEM skills is essential for first-year students starting their academic careers in engineering programs.  An Introduction to STEM course introduces students to design principles and soft skills that enable students to be successful in higher-education.  A study of acoustical engineering within a computer science context was added to an Introduction to STEM course to preface a real-world acoustical problem that students could readily identify in a local auditorium.  Students learned to solve acoustical problems through analysis with Python code and then by creating 3-D simulations in the Unity game engine.  Incorporating acoustical engineering into the STEM program created an opportunity to solve real-world problems using science and engineering.