Resumen de Design-Based Course Sequence in Statics and Strength of Materials
We present in this paper an attempt to help students reach the ABET 2000 goals from the contextof reforming two engineering courses: statics and strength of materials (mechanics of materials).In the traditional course of statics, students usually learn to obtain only the internal forces fortrusses and beams. In the reformed curriculum students are asked to analyze and design a simplestructure. Statics, presented in this context, is natural and easier to comprehend. In this approachthe concept of stress is introduced early. Strength of materials focuses on the determination ofstress and deformation of transversely loaded structures and statically indeterminate structures. Inthis paper, we outline the topics covered in each of the two reformed courses compared to thetraditional curriculum. We discuss the delivery of the design-based courses, and we show thestudent's and instructor's perspective of the changes.
