An articulation of the concepts and skills which underlie engineering statics

Abstract

Many instructional approaches are being developed with the goal of improving learning in statics. This paper is aimed at providing guidance to such developments by articulating the conceptual basis for statics. This paper recognizes the primary science prerequisite to statics, freshman Newtonian mechanics, and addresses the essential ways in which statics differs from freshman physics. A set of four concept clusters is proposed, together with a set of skills for implementing these concepts. Then, typical errors committed by students are presented. Examples of these errors are extracted from student solutions to statics problems. These typical errors are then explained by appealing to the proposed concepts and skills. It is hoped that this paper can provide an impetus for mechanics educators to come to a community-wide agreement on a conceptual structure of this subject that can inform future instructional developments.