Teach Engineering Graphics to First Semester Students of Engineering

It is best to start this teaching process with exposing students to good quality technical drawings of simple objects like nuts and bolts, shafts, plates with holes drilled in them, simple cast objects, tools, etc. These objects could be picked up from a hardware store. The drawings should be detailed with all the elements expected of a good shop drawing.

Each student should be given an object and its technical drawing and asked to spend time studying it. In a class of 40 there could be say10 different objects with 4 of each (more variety the better).

Every student should also have with him a Vernier Caliper, Micrometer, Steel Scale and Measuring Tape.

Start with explaining how to use the vernier caliper and micrometer and guide the students to discover how completely and accurately the drawing represents the object.

Concepts like plan, elevation, side views, sections as well as nuances of dimensioning, tolerances and finishes should emerge out of discussions in the classroom.

Students will soon start to see the relationships between the drawing and the object. To reinforce this understanding and practice using the measuring tools, the objects should be redistributed in the class but without redistributing the drawings.

Students will now have a new object but the drawing with them will not be of that object. The drawing is now just a reference drawing to remind students of all the elements in the drawing sheet, and students should practice making technical drawings of the new object by hand along with all the dimensions and other information that a technical drawing sheet has.

The atmosphere in the classroom should be informal and students should be free to take help from each other. They should be encouraged to come up to the blackboard to draw and share their difficulties with other students or suggest alternative ways to represent the object through drawings. 

By the time the students have drawn all the objects they will be very familiar with their measuring tools, would have explored different ways of drawing the object, would have explored through guided discussions, concepts like isometric, perspective etc.

Therefore in the first semester itself with exposure to good quality drawing and drawing practices the student will be able to use technical drawing as a tool to explore and communicate.

In between all this time should be taken out to play a game of Pictionary by dividing the class into two groups using the blackboard to communicate the message in the Pictionary card through drawings. One could start the whole session with a game of Pictionary or bring it in whenever it seems necessary to set the mood for teamwork and discussion. This game is not only very engaging but also demonstrates the power and importance of drawing to communicate.





   


 



Comments

  1. Nicky Joshi1 March 2019 at 04:32

    Way to go!! Hoping to see the transformation.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown1 March 2019 at 22:22

    A unique innovative approach to engineering education for meaningul learning!
    Worth adopting..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Unknown5 March 2019 at 20:16

    Such exercises can be included in an intensive foundation course

    ReplyDelete

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