فصلنامه آموزش مهندسی ایران
پیاپی 86 (تابستان 1399)

In this paper, it is shown that in many cases, science can predict the future. Based on the available information of the real system, the scientific method for future prediction is to develop a virtual model with similar response to the real system. The classical models are usually presented with a set of linear / nonlinear, ordinary / partial differential equations. The necessary and sufficient condition for future prediction is given by three axioms; A model with accurate description of the real system, perfect knowledge of the initial conditions, and perfect knowledge of present and future values of inputs to the system. In reality, none of these conditions are perfectly realizable and each axiom has some uncertainties. The failure in future prediction is exactly due to these uncertainties. The model description as the major axiom is always accompanied with uncertainty and although, there is no way to vanish it, there are different methods to reduce it. Soft computing is one of the recent approaches in the past few decades, not only used for modeling of systems in the field of engineering systems, but also used in the field of human sciences such as economy, management and social sciences.

In recent years, faculty members of various universities have presented numerous reports of lack of motivation among students in engineering fields. What are the reasons for this lack of motivation and how can students’ motivation be increased? Factors influencing motivation can be internal or external. The source of internal motivation, as the name suggests, lies in the internal personality of each person. On the other hand, the source of external motivation is in one’s environment and as an external factor encourages him/her to execute a certain task. Considering that motivation is an influential parameter in students’ learning and function in classroom, identifying the causes of lack of motivation and striving to rectify them, have considerable roles in the success of education and quality of learning. With this in mind, a two-step survey was conducted among the engineering students in University of Tehran. From the survey, the most and least influential factors in students’ lack of motivation were identified. In order to validate the findings of the first survey, a similar second survey was conducted in K.N. Toosi University, which resulted in similar results. It was found from the surveys that causes of lack of motivation are rooted both inside the universities (course curriculum, instructors and learning environment), and also outside in the society. From the 27 potential reasons for lack of motivation, the rigidity and theoretical nature of the courses, insufficient practical and skill building activities, and unrealized expectations were found to be the most influential in the expansion of lack of motivation among engineering students.

-The choice of supervisor for conducting student research is an important and necessary issue. Students may have difficulty choosing their supervisor because there are no rules and guidelines for choosing a tutor. Several factors affect this issue, which may ultimately lead to dissatisfaction and reduced student motivation and delays in conducting research and lowering the quality of the dissertation. To provide the appropriate indicators and criteria for selecting a supervisor, recent research and surveying methods of the final year students of the Urmia University of Technology based on the comprehensive theoretical model developed for their evaluation and ranking, use the appropriate decision-making method of the multi-criteria, best-worst used. The purposeful sampling method was selected from 35 graduate students of the Urmia University of Technology, and the most important criteria were selected through questionnaires. The university experts confirmed its validity, and its reliability was measured using Cronbach’s alpha (0.823). The results indicate that the criteria for master’s proficiency in English, the extent to which the supervisor’s information is updated to the subject of research, continuous monitoring, and the interaction of the supervisor to the completion of the work, the extent of the availability of the supervisor and the behavior of the supervisor’s professor. The student ranked first in five, and the least essential criteria included the gender of the supervisor and the administrative position of the supervisor at the university. Therefore, qualitative criteria such as scientific and updated information of the professors are before other criteria in choosing a supervisor.

Graphics is a real and complete language used in the engineering design process. Therefore, the engineering drawing has always been considered as a basic and compulsory course in the engineering curriculum. The advances of the digital age and changes in design approach of engineering in recent years, from the step-by-step to concurrent engineering, where all project people work in a unified team, always raise the question of whether There is still a need for engineering graphic training as in the past, and if any, what changes its content should make. The proposed method is a hybrid data processing method based on the use of QFD - as a very simple and efficient method of designing a product to meet customer needs. One of the major weaknesses of the QFD method is the assumption of independence between the product’s technical features. AHP & then DEMATEL technique are combined with QFD, to overcome this problem. The appropriateness of the results with the human mental processes is ensured through the application of fuzzy logic.  The results show that engineering graphics continue to be an essential course in modern engineering education, but its content must be adapted to meet new needs. These changes are suggested in the results section and the new syllabus is presented.

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the relationship between dimensions of attitudes towards science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) with 21st century skills. The population of this study is student-teachers of Allameh Tabatabai Teacher Training University in Urmia. Stratified random sampling was used. The statistical population was 168 persons, and the sample size was 116 persons using Krejcie and Morgan table. The data collection tool is the science, technology, engineering and mathematics attitude scale and 21st century skills questionnaire, both designed by Friday Institute for Educational Innovation (2012) and validated by experts. The reliability of the questionnaires using Cronbach’s alpha was 0.762 and 0.710, respectively. Descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation coefficient, multiple variance analysis and SPSS 26 were used for data analysis. The findings of the study showed that the attitude of student-teacher to mathematics and science are at an average level, but their attitude to design and technology is higher than average. Also, the level of leadership and participation skills are at a moderate level and self-management skills are at a higher than average level. In addition, the results indicate a positive and significant relationship between some components of STEM attitudes and 21st century skills among student-teacher. Furthermore, according to the results of multiple variance analysis test, there is a significant difference between students in different disciplines in some components of STEM attitude.

Equipping students with a variety of competencies and skills to succeed in the job market and improve their employability is one of the criteria for assessing the quality of universities, especially third generation and entrepreneurial universities. Given the importance of employability, this study aims to analyze the level of employability of technical and vocational graduates (TVG) in a mixed method including quantitative survey and qualitative content. The statistical population of the study includes 107 cultural-student deputies of technical and vocational colleges. For data gathering, a constructed researcher-made questionnaire from the De Vos & Soenz (2008) questionnaire was used, Descriptive statistics and t-test were used to analyze quantitative data. Based on the research, the employability of TVG has been evaluated from the perspective of the deputies at the desired level. In the second part, the solutions for improving the employability level of TVG are investigated. Based on the analysis of the deputy perspectives, 5 main categories, 13 sub-categories and 108 key concepts have been extracted and categorized to improve the employability level of TVG. Using the proposed solutions such as reviewing curricula and adapting them to the needs of the market, providing higher education and establishing and developing disciplines and colleges based on it, equipping infrastructures and reorganizing workshops and laboratories, promoting entrepreneurship culture and highlighting the role of the disciplines, continuous relation with industry, holding effective internship courses and support of TV graduates to start a business, can greatly improve the employability level of the graduates.

With the rapid growth in technology and the use of information technologies in today’s language teaching and learning, a recent educational site known as Edmodo came to vogue. Since writing is considered as the most demanding skill in technical English courses, this study was conducted to explore the effectiveness of Edmodo as a novel pedagogical platform on Railway Engineering students’ academic writing. It also aimed to determine their perceptions of the advantages and challenges of writing academic texts via Edmodo. The participants were 20 railway engineering students at Iran University of Science and Technology. A language proficiency test, a pretest, midtest, and a posttest followed by three open-ended questions were the instruments of this study. The analysis of the data showed that Edmodo had a positive impact on improving railway engineering students’ writing performance. The results also revealed that low speed of uploading and access to Edmodo and uncertainty about the submission of the tasks were the most frequent drawbacks of Edmodo, whereas cooperation and sharing comments about other classmates’ writings, having access to others’ production, assisting classmates in solving their writing problems, using their comments and style of writing as a model for improving writing were the benefits reported by the students, respectively.