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Engineering Analytic Principles and Predictive

Computational Skills for K-12 Students:
Statistics on High School
Age-Possible Mechanical Design Topics to
Engineering and Technology Educators and Curriculum Developers
Edward Locke
(edwardnlocke@yahoo.com)
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Monterey Park, California, USA

Original Research Data

Sources of Data
Table 1 lists the college-level Textbooks 1 and 2 used for the extraction of analytic
and predictive principles and computational formulas related to the subject of mechanical
design (suitable for an engineering technology undergraduate program with a focus on
mechanical design drafting, but NOT for a mechanical engineering program per se).
Table 1. Data Source (Engineering Economics Textbooks)

Title
Authors
Publisher
Year
ISBN
Number of Pages

Textbooks Examined
Textbook 1
Textbook 2
Machine Design, 8th Edition
An Introduction to Mechanical Engineering
Timothy H. Wentzell, P.E
Jonathan Wickert
Thomson Delmar Learning
Thompson Brooks/Cole
2003
2003
140180517-5
0-534-39132-X
518
306

Initial Determination of High School Age-Possible Mechanical Design Topics

The outcome of this research is very encouraging. Tables 2A and 2B indicate that:
(1). for Textbook 1, 100% of all sections, and 100 % of the volume in the selected Textbook
1 is based on pre-calculus mathematics skills; and (2). for Textbook 2, 97.9% of all sections,
and 99.7 % of the volume is based on pre-calculus mathematics skills; and (3) no prior
mastery of physics and chemistry concepts or skills is needed for reading and homework
assignments.
Table 2A. Statistic on Textbook 1 (Machine Design, 8th Edition by Timothy H. Wentzell,
P.E.)
Pre-Calculus Level Concepts and Skills Found in All Chapters/Sections
Mathematics
Physics
Chemistry

Page Information
Page
Number of
Numbers
Pages
N/A
N/A

[four operations], [length], [area], [systems

[weight], [mass], [gravity],
[temperature]
of unit], [power], [root], [inequality],
[acceleration], [force], [distance],
[faction], [geometric shapes and solids]
[power], [time], [torque],
(circle, square, cylinder, cone, etc.),
[pressure], [work], [impact],
[measurement] (angle, length, width,
[energy] (kinetic and potential),
diameter, etc.), [trigonometric functions]
[speed], [velocity], [inertia]
Calculus Level Mathematics
Concepts and Skills
Chapters/Sections
N/A
N/A
N/A
0
Chapters with Pre-Calculus Level Mathematics Concepts and Skills ONLY
Volume = Total Number of Pages Number of Pages with Calculus Skills = 518 - 0 = 518 pages
Number of Chapters = Total Number of Chapters Number of Chapters with Calculus Skills = 21 0 = 21 chapters

Statistical Summary
Total Number of Pages Covered by Text
(Excluding Index): 518

Total Numbers of Chapters and Sections:

21, 213

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Percentage of Pre-Calculus Sections
Number of Pre - Calculus Chapters
100%
% Pre -Calculus
Total Number of Chapters

21
100% 100%
21

Percentage of Sections with Calculus Skills

Number of Sectionss with Calculus Skills
% Calculus
100%
Total Number of Sections

100
%

0
%

121

Total Numbers of Chapters with Pre-Calculus Skills Only:

Total Number of Pages with Pre-Calculus Skills Only:
21 out of 21
518 out of 518
Percentage of Pre-Calculus Volume:

Number of Pre - Calculus Pages

518
100%
% Pre-Calculus
100% 100%
Total Number of Pages
518

Conclusion on the Textbook:

(1) This book is intended for a mechanical design course at the associate in science or bachelor in science degree in an engineering
technology program. The mathematics concepts and skills required for reading the chapters in this book and for completing the home
works are all at pre-calculus level; they are either covered in middle and high schools or could be treated as special mathematics
topics for instruction.
(2) The physics and chemistry concepts and skills required for reading and home works are very basics and could be taught or reviewed
as special topics of instruction (most of these topics are covered in high school physics and chemistry courses; a lot of them are also
reviewed or covered in this book).
(3) The author recommend statics, strength of materials, college algebra, and trigonometry as pre-requisite courses, as well
as engineering material, and manufacturing process courses as helpful for taking a college level machine design course under an
engineering technology program. The relevant topics, concepts, and skills reviewed and covered in this book include [rotational
speed], [modulus of elasticity], [stress], [strain], [coefficient of thermal expansion], [deflection], [section modulus], [radius of
gyration], [bending stress], [coplanar shear stress], [combined shear and torsional stress], [Mohrs Circle], [fatigue], [stress
concentration factor], [stiffness], and [Youngs Modulus]. This book is easy to read and convenient to use, written in "plain English"
with little or no professional jargon. For the time being, this book is recommended for the Mechanical Design for K12 course under
the futuristic K12 Engineering and Technology curriculum in the Mechanical Engineering Pathway.

Table 2B. Statistic on Textbook 2 (An Introduction to Mechanical Engineering by Jonathan

Wickert)
Pre-Calculus Level Concepts and Skills Found in All Chapters/Sections
Mathematics
Physics
Chemistry

Page Information
Pages with Calculus
Sections with
Skills
Calculus Skills
Page
Number
Page
Number
Numbers
of Pages
Numbers
of Pages
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A

[four operations], [length],

[force], [mass], [gravity],
[viscosity],
[volume], [systems of units],
[density], [time], [moment of
[temperature],
summation], [square],
force], [energy], [work],
[specific heat],
[trigonometric functions],
[pressure], [power], [heat],
[thermal
[right triangle], [oblique
[luminous intensity], [angular
conductivity]
triangles]
velocity], [torque]
Calculus Level Mathematics
Concepts and Skills
Chapters/Sections
[first derivative], [first integral,
7.6 Engine and Compressor Mechanism
257
1
255-259
5
[chain rule]
Chapters with Pre-Calculus Level Mathematics Concepts and Skills ONLY
Volume (Pages with Pre-Calculus Skills) = Total Number of Pages - Number of Pages with Calculus Skills = 306 - 1 = 305
Volume (Pages Excluding Sections with Calculus Skills) =
Total Number of Pages - Number of Pages of Sections with Calculus Skills = 306 - 5 = 301
Number of Chapters = Total Number of Chapters - Number of Chapters with Calculus Skills = 8 - 1 = 7
Number of Sections = Total Number of Sections - Number of Sections with Calculus Skills = 48 - 1 = 47

Statistical Summary
Total Number of Pages Covered by Text
(Excluding Index): 306
Percentage of Pre-Calculus Chapters
Number of Pre - Calculus Chapters
100%
% Pre -Calculus
Total Number of Chapters
Chapters

7
100% 87.5%
8
Percentage of Pre-Calculus Sections

Total Numbers of Chapters and Sections:

8, 48
Percentage of Chapters with Calculus Sections
Number of Chapters with Calculus Sections
% Calculus
Total Number of Chapters
Chapters

1
100% 12.5%
8

100%

Percentage of Sections with Calculus Skills

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Number of Sectionss with Calculus Skills
Number of Pre - Calculus Sectionss
% Calculus
100%
% Pre -Calculu
100%
Total Number of Sections
Sections

Total Number of Sectionss

Sections

47

100% 2.1%
100% 97.9%
48
48
Average Percentage of Calculus Content
Average Percentage of Pre-Calculus Content
% Calculus % Pre -Calculus
% Pre -Calculus % Pre -Calculus
12.5% 2.1%
Chapters
Sections
87.5% 97.9%
Chapters
Sections
%

7.3%
Calculus
% Pre -Calculu

92.7%
2
2
Content
2
2
Content
Total Number of Chapters with Pre-calculus Mathematics
Total Number of Pages with Pre-Calculus Skills Only:
Skills: 7 out of 8
305 out of 306
Total Number of Sections with both Pre-calculus and Calculus
Mathematics Skills: 1 out of 48
Percentage of Pre-Calculus Only Volume:

Number of Pre - Calculus Pages

305
% Pre-Calculus
100% 306 100% 99.7%
Total
Number
of
Pages

Conclusion on the Textbook:

(1)

(2)
(3)
(4)

(5)

This book is intended by the author for students in the first or second years of a college or university program in mechanical
engineering. However, due to lack of sufficient number of topics using both pre-calculus and calculus mathematics skills, this book
is not considered here as vigorous enough for a primary or secondary source of data. This book gives a general overview of
some topics of science and mechanical engineering, such as machine components and tools, forces in structures and fluids,
materials and stresses, thermal and energy systems, motion of machinery, and mechanical design. Some chapters are purely
descriptive and informational in knowledge content, while others involve review of basic physics with scientific principles and
computational formulas.
The mathematics concepts skills needed for understanding the content of the book include pre-calculus as well as beginning
calculus skills.
The physics and chemistry concepts and principles involved in the topics of this book are the very basic ones.
The topics in the book include basic concepts and computational skills usually covered in typical strength of materials, fluid
mechanics, heat transfer, and mechanical design courses, including [stress], [strain], [elastic potential energy], and topics in gear
train design.
For all practical purposes, carefully selected chapters in this book could be used in the Mechanical Design for K12 course, as an
auxiliary textbook for extra reading, in the futuristic K12 Engineering and Technology curriculum.

Conclusions and Recommendations

This report has presented (1) information about two college-level mechanical design
technology textbooks selected for the initial determination and selection of high school agepossible topics (Table 1), and (2) the outcome of the research on the inclusion of mathematics,
physics and chemistry concepts and skills needed for reading and homework assignments
(Tables 2A and 2B). These two textbooks could be used for the time being. The following are
recommended: (1) Additional research: Future studies of more vigorous textbooks, such as
Shigleys Mechanical Engineering Design, 8th Edition, written by Richard G. Budynas and J.
Keith Nisbett, and published by McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2006 (ISBN 978-0-07312193-2), and Mechanical Engineering Design, 7th Edition, written by Joseph E. Shigley,
Charles R. Mischke, and Richard G. Budynas, and published by McGraw-Hill Higher
Education, 2003 (ISBN 0-07-292193-5), need to be conducted in order to reach a more
reasonable list of K12 age-possible mechanical design topics; (2) Pilot study: High schools
could conduct pilot pedagogic experiments to determine the actual age-feasibility and ageappropriateness of all engineering economics-related analytic knowledge content identified in
Tables 2A and 2B, using the selected Textbooks 1 and 2; and K-12 mathematics and science
teachers could use the same Tables 2A and 2B as references to incorporate mechanical design
technology topics into respective curriculum; and (3) Curriculum development: Existing K12 engineering and technology curriculum developers could use the Tables 2A and 2B as
references for the development of new K-12 engineering instructional materials or for the

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incorporation of mechanical design-related knowledge and skills into their previously
developed instructional materials.
References
Committee on K-12 Engineering Education (2009). Engineering in K-12 education:
Understanding the status and improving the prospects. Washington, DC: National
Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council.
Hacker, M. (2011). Private email correspondence, Saturday, January 22, 2011, 4:58:44 PM.
Lewis, T. (2007). Engineering education in schools. International Journal of Engineering
Education, 23(5), 843-852.
Locke, E. (2009a). Proposed model for a streamlined, cohesive, and optimized k-12 STEM
curriculum with a focus on engineering. The Journal of Technology Studies. Volume
XXXV, Number 2, Winter 2009. Retrieved Thursday, February 17, 2011 from
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JOTS/v35/v35n2/pdf/locke.pdf.
Locke, E. (2009b). Report on the achievements of K-12 engineering education in Australia &
its positive referential values for the evolution of a potentially viable K-12 engineering
& technology curriculum in the United States. Unpublished research document.
Smith, P. C., & Wicklein, R. C. (2007). Identifying the essential aspects and related
academic concepts of an engineering design curriculum in secondary technology
education. Unpublished internal research report, NCETE. Retrieved January 30, 2009
from http://ncete.org/flash/publications.php.

About the Author:

Edward Locke is a product designer, CADD specialist, digital graphic artist, and independent scholar on K12
STEAM issues. He taught engineering graphics and CADD technology with product design projects to students
from diverse ethnic backgrounds (Latino, Vietnamese-, African-, Caucasian-Americans, and others) at Santa
Ana College, California (2000-2007) as an adjunct instructor, practiced product design and graphic design
(1994-2014), pursued graduate studies at California State University Los Angeles (2004-2007) and then at the
University of Georgia as a National Center for Engineering and Technology Education Fellow (2007-2009). He
graduated in 2009 with an Education Specialist degree from the College of Education, Department of
Workforce Education, Leadership and Social Foundations at The University of Georgia, Athens. He is
currently working on issues of K12 engineering and technology curriculum, in collaboration with professors of
the Engineering Department, at East Los Angeles College; and he could be reached at
edwardnlocke@yahoo.com. Edward Lockes professional works, college-level textbooks and instructional
materials, as well as research writings and curriculum development documents are featured in his four websites:
(1) Scholar STEAM K12 Plus (K12 engineering and technology curriculum at
http://scholarsteamk12plus.weebly.com/), (2) SuniSea Products (consumer product design, engineering graphics
and CADD technology at http://suniseaproducts.weebly.com/), (3) SuniSea Design (graphic design and visual
communication at http://suniseadesign.weebly.com/), and (4) SuniSea Creation (traditional and digital arts at
http://suniseacreation.weebly.com/).

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Acknowledgement:
This is to acknowledge the assistance and advice provided by Professor Jose Ramirez, Professor Kamyar
Khashayar, Professor Humberto Gallegos, and Professor Artin Davidian, at the Engineering Department, as
well as Learning Assistance Center Director Maria Elena Yepes, and Instructional Aide Elizabeth Arroyo, at
East Los Angeles College, in supporting the agenda to improve K12 STEAM education in the United States on
the basis of my published Vision Paper.