The Merits of Teaching Basic Courses in Engineering Curriculum

Abstract

This paper tries to answer the question frequently asked by engineering students, why we are studying basic subjects such as Mathematics, Mechanics and Physics. Engineering students study these basic subjects in addition to some other courses such as computer programming, production, chemistry and some humanity courses during their first year of study as a preparatory year for all engineering disciplines. Students are expecting to study their major subjects in the first year of study when they enroll in faculty of engineering around the world. It is almost impossible to teach advanced subjects such as fluid mechanics, mechanical vibration, automatic control, modeling and simulation and robotics without prior knowledge of the basic courses. The students could not recognize in their first year of study that understanding basic mathematics and mechanics skills help them a lot in getting the knowledge of advanced courses easily and effectively. For example, all automatic control courses need some modelling techniques which the students can gain by studying engineering mechanics and calculus during their first level of study. Basic knowledge of Newton’s second law of motion and basic rules of calculus are very important in achieving satisfactory understanding of the advanced topics in all disciplines. Some of the advanced topics for example robot Jacobian is based on partial derivatives and the equations of motion of a multi-joints robot manipulator are based on Lagrange’s equation. The students cannot understand subjects such as heat transfer and thermal power stations and fluid mechanics without basic knowledge of physics.