Resumen de Comparing patterns of quantitative literacy in mechanical and industrial engineering capstone teams
Andrew Gouldstone, Bridget M. Smyser
One of the desired outcomes of capstone design is the ability to use mathematical arguments such as calculations, modeling, andstatistical data analysis to inform design decisions. The VALUE rubric for quantitative literacy (QL) was used to assess the workof 66 capstone teams from a program that contains both mechanical engineering and industrial engineering groups. The goal wasto determine if there were particular team, discipline, or project characteristics that led to high quantitative literacy in the finalproject. Correlation analysis indicates that high levels of quantitative literacy are associated with more successful projects. Inparticular, the ability to discuss and present calculations seems to be an indicator of success. The patterns of correlations aredifferent for mechanical and industrial engineering teams. Industrial engineering teams who performed highly in the communicationaspect of quantitative literacy tend to have higher overall quantitative literacy scores, while this relationship was not as strong forthe mechanical engineering groups.
