Interacting with the Concepts: MDSolids in a Mechanical Engineering Course

Alan Arbour
Professor of Mechanical Engineering Technology
School of Technology and Applied Science
Lambton College
Sarnia, Ontario, Canada
alan.arbour@lambton.on.ca

In my Machine Design classes, I needed a mechanism to

MDSolids. Download MDSolids (PC only) MDSolids Features

reinforce the concepts that my students learned in their Strength of Materials courses. The focus in the design projects I assign is practicality. The students must first understand the concepts and then apply them in real-world applications. I decided to try learning technology to help make the basic concepts stick in the students' minds. I was looking for something that provided visual representations as well as interactivity with the concepts, in order to illuminate the course material.... I chose MDSolids, a software program that helps perform some of the tedious calculations required in design projects involving Strength of Materials. The exciting part about using a program like this is that students are able to perform design iterations and see the results instantly, in many cases with three-dimensional illustrations. Using this process, the students are allowed more time to grasp the concepts of a design rather than being frustrated by spending hours performing calculations. Students are now more eager to perform these design iterations - and they're having fun doing them!

IIf you have any questions about how I use MDSolids, you can contact me at:
alan.arbour@lambton.on.ca