Conference Session

New Trends in CHE Education I

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michael Hanyak, Bucknell University; Timothy Raymond, Bucknell University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

AC 2009-1936: TEACHING MATERIAL AND ENERGY BALANCES TOFIRST-YEAR STUDENTS USING COOPERATIVE TEAM-BASED PROJECTSAND LABSMichael Hanyak, Bucknell University Michael E. Hanyak, Jr. is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Bucknell University since 1974. He received his B.S. from The Pennsylvania State University, M.S. from Carnegie Mellon, and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976. His teaching and research interests include computer-aided engineering and design, courseware development and the electronic classroom. He was one of the principal investigators with Brian Hoyt, William J. Snyder, Edward Mastascusa, and Maurice Aburdene on a five-year National

Conference Session

E-Learning in Chemical Engineering

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Zollars, Washington State University; Christopher Hundhausen, Washington State University; Pawan Agrawal, Washington State University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

students that failed to successfully complete the material andenergy balance course had a cumulative GPA of 3.06 versus 2.95 for those that didsuccessfully complete the class. The SAT scores for these two groups were 1265 versus1300, respectively. The standard deviation for the GPA was 0.50 while that for the SATscores was 70. Why, then, do 35% of our students fail to complete the material andenergy balance course?Defining an Approach To explore why the material and energy balance course might be such a stumblingblock, we studied the problem solving activities of introductory chemical engineeringstudents. To do this, we ran an exploratory study in the Fall of 2006 using four pairs ofstudents and a SmartBoard√ electronic whiteboard to (a

Conference Session

E-Learning in Chemical Engineering

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jeremy VanAntwerp, Calvin College; Aubrey Sykes, Calvin College; xiuhua si

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

capabilities: thesuccessive iterative calculations to close material and/or heat balance equations with a set ofthermodynamic equilibrium correlations and data that successfully model the physical chemistryof the process. The bookkeeping capabilities of these programs are valuable but not unique.Other programs (e.g., a spreadsheet like Excel) can easily provide the same capabilities forbookkeeping of material and energy balance equations—especially through the trial and errorcalculations. In practice, most simulators require a substantial amount of data entry and/orentering/fitting of thermodynamic parameters to provide any results (let alone meaningfulresults!). For many of the general purpose simulators support for inorganics and/orbiological

Conference Session

New Trends in CHE Education I

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jennifer Christensen, Texas A&M University; Lale Yurttas, Texas A&M University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

addition of a projectcomponent of such magnitude. In addition, the general engineering principles of the lower-levelcourses can be most readily applied and extrapolated to more general real-life challenges thatwould be the basis of the service-learning projects. The goals of increasing excitement andretention rates would be also better served by implementing service learning during the mostinfluential time of a student’s academic career, which typically coincides with the lower-levelcourses. Furthermore, the four learning outcomes of the material and energy balances coursewere defined with the goal of implementing service learning. Specifically outcome 4 is wellaligned with such objectives of a service learning project: community engagement

Conference Session

New Trends in CHE Education I

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Claire Komives, San Jose State University; Erik Fernandez, University of Virginia

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

to begin to incorporate bio intotheir courses. The database would function as a supplementary solution manual to the textbooksolution manual. An NSF Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement proposal was Page 14.1086.2 1funded in January, 2007 to the authors of this paper, and the plan was to develop 100 problemswith solutions for the Material and Energy Balance course.BioEMB has a number of useful attributes for faculty. Unlike a static solution manual, theproblems on BioEMB can be easily modified. Thus, mistakes in calculation, typo's and othererrors can be easily fixed and reposted

Conference Session

E-Learning in Chemical Engineering

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Silverstein, University of Kentucky

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

successes of collaborative learning, selected elements of each were tied intoa simple project requiring minimal student time to collaboratively develop a reflective learningdocument using a wiki. A wiki is a web-accessible document that can be edited by multipleusers. For this project, students in a material and energy balance course were assigned theweekly task of maintaining a wiki page on the current textbook chapter by entering what theyperceived as the most important items learned during class. This was similar to other activelearning activities suggested in the literature, but in this case the student contributions werecollaborative and archival. Students were encouraged to be complete and accurate with thepromise that their entries would be

Conference Session

New Trends in CHE Education I

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Adrienne Minerick, Mississippi State University; Keisha Walters, Mississippi State University; Bill Elmore, Mississippi State University; Rebecca Toghiani, Mississippi State University; Rafael Hernandez; Priscilla Hill, Mississippi State University; Hossein Toghiani, Mississippi State University; Todd French, Mississippi State University

Tagged Divisions

Chemical Engineering

mass and energy along withevaluation of physical properties to evaluate batch and continuous processes. The students areexpected to be able to utilize basic algebra, calculus, and physics principles. The students arealso expected to have a fundamental knowledge of chemistry including stoichiometry andcomponent balances. The text used in this course is Felder and Rousseau [4].The students are taught how to graph functions and perform statistical calculations with andwithout the aid of Excel using data collected from chemical processes. Other sources ofinformation that would provide assistance when performing material and energy balances arebrought to their attention. Students are trained how to read and understand descriptions ofprocesses