Padmanabhan, G; De Saram, DD; Schanandore, TC; Schanandore, J; Pieri, RV; ,
A surveying course has been designed and delivered for a tribal college pre-engineering program being developed under the tribal college-university Pre-Engineering Education Collaborative (PEEC) initiative of the National Science Foundation. The collaborative, one of only four in the nation, is established to bring university engineering schools together with tribal colleges to develop pre-engineering programs that would increase the number of Native Americans in engineering. Under the collaborative, students will begin their studies in a pre-engineering program at one of the four participating tribal colleges and then transfer to the collaborative university to complete their studies. The program is in its third year and course development and delivery are in progress. The surveying course is offered as a summer experience over a two-week period during which participating students from the tribal colleges assemble at the university. The course content is equivalent to that of the surveying course offered in a regular semester at the university; an objective of the program being to enhance instruction and support without lowering the bar. Surveying was chosen as the first course to be offered because fieldwork (outdoor activity), integral to the course, is attractive to students and thus helpful to sustain their interest. Because most surveying endeavors require group work, students get a taste of working in teams to complete tasks. The ability to integrate applications of trigonometry, computer aided graphics and spreadsheets into the course is another reason. Surveying fieldwork requiring intense coordination and management of logistics afforded students opportunities to observe how tasks are accomplished. When condensing a 16 week semester schedule to a two-week camp, the major concern was to allow reasonable time for studying, homework and reflection. The schedule was, hence, set so that students were given time overnight before conducting tests and fieldwork on material taught any day. Being a hands-on course, much of the learning happened in the field. Every attempt was made to ensure that students from different tribal colleges will work together in groups, thus increasing interactions among people across tribal reservations. On each fieldwork students were required to maintain a detailed record on a field book that was rigorously graded, and write a reflective journal to emphasize the need to develop into reflective practitioners. Two advanced graduate students assisted the engineering professor in instructing the students on fieldwork and processing field observations using spreadsheets. Beyond that, they took the lead in designing and conducting a series of tutorials making students create survey maps using computer aided graphics, and gain experiences in algebra, trigonometry, numerical methods, statistics and calculus. Further, the two performed yeoman service helping students catch up whenever they fell behind, thus gaining an in-depth knowledge of challenges faced by students. Another activity was demonstration of GPS and GIS technology by two currently active professional surveyors, and introduction to the working environment in their firm. Overall, students gained experience that may stimulate interest to acquire skills towards pursuing a career in engineering. Details of the course and reflections on future improvements will be discussed in the paper.