Work in progress - Developing and maintaining problem solving skills and concepts in statics and thermodynamics

An implementation of an overall methodology to ensure that students develop and maintain satisfactory problem solving abilities is reported. Most aspects of this methodology have been implemented in two sophomore engineering courses: statics and thermodynamics. The objective of this methodology is to ensure that students who pass (a grade of "C" or better) these introductory engineering courses have not only clearly demonstrated the ability satisfactory problem solving abilities, but have also maintained these problem solving skills through subsequent courses. These methods have three main components: Exam questions and final quizzes during the course and initial pre-quizzes in subsequent courses. All major topics covered in the course are tested multiple times, first during problem solving based exams and in subsequent quizzes. All grading is done on a mastery type basis. We believe that by this approach we can shift student thinking from getting partial credit to learning and solving problems correctly. This methodology should also help with direct measurement of clearly defined learning outcomes and an overall more consistent grading of exams since partial credit is mostly eliminated.