Common elements of capstone projects in the world's top-ranked engineering universities

“Common elements of programmes implemented at the world’s top-ranked engineering universities were identified and analysed.” (p.216) “These elements include: a precursory sequence of PBL experiences; a design-build-test programme model; and active industry involvement. Also most of the programmes examined either mandate or optionally allow group projects to simulate authentic engineering projects and working environments. Sequential […]

A survey of computer science capstone course literature

“The top 10 discipline skills (by citation frequency) were: design (24), requirements (22), groupwork (21), testing (19), writing (17), speaking (15), software process (14), project management (14), large system experience (14) and knowledge integration (10).” (p.213-215) “The top ten topics (by citation frequency) in Table 2 were in order: design (24), groupwork (22), requirements (20), […]

A Review of Literature on Teaching Engineering Design Through Project-Oriented Capstone Courses

“This paper describes the standard practices and current state of capstone design education throughout the country as revealed through a literature search of over 100 papers relating to engineering design courses. Major topics include the development of capstone design courses, course descriptions, project information, details of industrial involvement, and special aspects of team‐oriented design projects. […]

A National Survey of American Higher Education Capstone Practices in Sociology and Psychology

“The findings further indicate that factors related to student limits and time limits predominate with respect to those variables that produce less successful course outcomes.” (p.227) “Our present finding confirms that at least 60 percent, and perhaps as many as 80 percent, of American baccalaureate or higher institutions with sociology or psychology departments offer capstone […]

Describing Typical Capstone Course Experiences From a National Random Sample

“Results suggest that institutions have multiple approaches to the capstone course, but that these differences are rarely associated with institutional size, type of funding, or degree offered.” (p.281) “Moreover, our survey results suggest that capstone courses share common pedagogical purposes such as integrating learned material and extending and applying learned material.” (p.283) “These projects are […]

A national comparison of biochemistry and molecular biology capstone experiences

“Capstones should endeavor to provide experiential learning by having students apply acquired knowledge and skills to relevant issues in their field of study. However, in order for a capstone to provide valuable experiential learning, strong faculty-student relationships need to be established...Capstone experiences should aim to integrate and apply concepts through performance skills such as laboratory […]