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Abstract The integration of computational tools into engineering education has become pivotal, enhancing students' depth of knowledge and better preparing them for future careers. The Mechanical Engineering department at a large midwestern university has embraced this shift since Fall 2021, by integrating computational Python exercises through Jupyter notebooks into their Statics course, a required course in several degree programs in the College of Engineering. In each of the subsequent semesters, additional resources were made available to students to bolster the implementation of computational tools. In addition, the course sequence was modified to require students to take a linear algebra course with emphasis on computational tools as a co-requisite or prerequisite for the Statics course. In this paper, we summarize the results of surveys completed by students who have taken or are currently taking the Statics course to identify the impact of these changes. In particular, we defined four different metrics to determine the impact of incorporating computational tools in this course: 1) effectiveness of the computational exercises in building Python skills; 2) students' confidence level in solving statics problems; 3) students' attitude towards the importance of computational tools; and 4) students' satisfaction regarding the revised curriculum.. Our survey findings show that students feel their computational skills have improved during the semester, boosting their confidence in using these skills to solve statics problems. Additionally, as the use of computational tools increased throughout the semester, students' satisfaction with the course content also went up. Lastly, we find that the majority of the students believe acquiring computational skills is important for their post-graduation careers.
Chang et al. (Sun,) studied this question.