Abstract:

In the recent ENGR 100: Sustainable Energy & Healthy Lifestyle Design Seminar at Bucknell University, first-year students showed how valuable hands-on learning is for understanding real engineering problems. Design Session 2 (DS2) gives students a complete design experience where they must define a problem, create system diagrams, build a prototype (either a scaled model, a functional subsystem, or both), test it, and improve it through multiple rounds of revision. Students learn what works and what does not by building real systems, making mistakes, and correcting their designs step by step. In DS2, student teams design small renewable-energy systems such as solar-powered chargers, greenhouse ventilators, agrivoltaic demonstrators, and emergency power kits. During the early stages, students use simple digital design tools such as Onshape, Tinkercad Circuits, SketchAI, Canva 3D, and Gemini Canvas to visualize their ideas. However, most of the deep learning happens when they begin building. A major part of the paper will highlight the challenge students face as their designs progress through Versions 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0. Early versions often include wiring errors, unrealistic assumptions, or incomplete thinking. As students test their prototypes, they encounter measurement issues, component sizing problems, and unexpected performance limits. Through teamwork, feedback, and careful revision, each version becomes more accurate and practical. By Version 4.0, students create working scaled models or functional subsystems supported by real measurements such as voltage, current, airflow, temperature, or solar irradiance. Students also build skills in teamwork, communication, conflict resolution, and engineering ethics through activities that use the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE) Code of Ethics and a structured ethical decision-making framework. Results from Fall 2025 show that hands-on building, repeated design iteration, and real measurement lead to stronger confidence, clearer thinking, and better problem-solving skills. This experience shows that students understand engineering most effectively when they struggle through the design process and improve their work step by step.

Keywords:

Hands-on learning, First-year engineering, Renewable-energy design, Iterative prototyping, Team-based learning.