project was three-fold: (1) to address an existing runoff problem that was degrading a high-quality stream in the local community, (2) to involve undergraduate students in an integral way in the design process, system maintenance, and in performance monitoring, and (3) to use the project as a practical illustration of how sustainability constraints are incorporated into water resources engineering. The importance of ongoing partnerships with the local municipality, regulatory agencies, and watershed advocacy organizations is emphasized as key to sustaining multiple-year off-campus projects. Qualitative assessment suggests the project was highly motivational to many students; however, a drawback is that a given class of students
Problem Based Learning and Case Studies into an Environmental Engineering Lab Course Stephanie Luster-Teasley, PhD1 and Cynthia Waters, PhD2 North Carolina A&T State University 1 Department of Civil, Architectural and Agricultural Engineering 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering Greensboro, NC 27411Abstract An introductory Environmental Engineering course was re-designed to include newenvironmental laboratory modules based on Sustainability and Green Design. The goal of thecourse was to incorporate the skill sets taught in a traditional Environmental
systems to embrace sustainability gained worldwide attentionin 1987. As stated in the Brundtland Report: “[Sustainable Development] challenges cut acrossthe divides of national sovereignty, of limited strategies for economic gain, and of separateddisciplines of science . . . The changes in attitudes, in social values, and in aspirations that thereport urges [to achieve sustainable development] will depend on vast campaigns of education,debate and public participation”1. This report called for a change in the way we as humansinteract with each other and the planet. In the years since this report, campaigns for educationand public debate have occurred, albeit not to the vast extent envisioned by the BrundtlandCommission. Education is a deeply
orengineering that would contribute to solving global climate problems. Qualitative assessmentresults indicated that students felt more confident in their ability to contribute to climate changemitigation through both their personal knowledge and professional career options.IntroductionThe scientific community now recognizes with a very high level of confidence that recentindustrial and agricultural activities are having a profound impact on Earth’s climate. 1 Therelease of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere from these activities is causing a discerniblewarming and general instability of our planet’s climate. It is now time to help the broadercommunity understand the science of climate change, its potential implications, and the actionsrequired to
, University of Texas, ArlingtonDr. K.J. Rogers P.E., University of Texas, Arlington Page 22.604.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 Engineering Sustainable Civil EngineersAbstractEngineering Sustainable Engineers (ESE) was designed to infuse curricula in the Departments ofCivil (CE), Industrial and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington withsustainability. The overarching aim is to improve student knowledge of and competency inaddressing sustainability issues in engineering design and problem solving. Three key programelements are (1
. Methanotrophic bacteria canalso be isolated from environmental conditions as described in Whittenbury et al, 1970, and Pattet al, 1974.5,7 Methanotrophs should be appropriately stored prior to the experiment. Storage at4oC is appropriate if the experiment will be conducted within 72 hours. For longer durations, thebacteria should be stored at -20oC.The instructor, or teaching assistant, will prepare the fluid medium for bacterial growth. Themedium will be prepared in a sterilized 2-liter glass container using Milli-Q water as the solvent.The following chemicals are added to the solvent: 0.8 mM MgSO4, 10 mM NaNO3, 0.14 mMCaCl2, 1.2 mM NaHCO3, 2.35 mM KH2PO4, 3.4 mM K2HPO4, 20.7 µM Na2MoO4, 10 µMFeEDTA, and 1 mL of a trace element solution [which contains
is stored in content areas. A content area can cover topics that arebroad (e.g., Engineering) or narrow (e.g. a composting windrow). At a minimum, a content areahas a ca.xml file containing a name and definition, e.g., “Engineering” and “Application ofscience and math to solve problems”. The ca.xml file can also identify other content areas thatare “based on” or “lead to” the content area. Figure 1 shows examples of “leads to” and “basedon” relationships. The content area at the base of an arrow leads to the one at the head. Thecontent arrow at the head is based on the one at the base. Figure 1: Leads to relationships
engineering (EVEN) nationwide4 and at theUniversity of Colorado at Boulder (CU). For example, the enrollment figures from CU areshown in Figure 1. The largest boost in recent enrollment at CU has been from first yearstudents. Page 15.544.2 160 3000 First year students 140 First year course enrollment 2500 120 Total CU EVEN Enrollment CU # students Nationwide Enrollment
have been highly favorable. The class is offered only in the fall and a study to evaluatethe effectiveness of the activity for engagement and learning is planned for fall 2010.Problem-Based LearningProblem-Based Learning, PBL, is a constructivist learning approach that is used to stimulate andimprove learning by presenting problems about topics of interest to students. Learning is shapedby direct experience and is most effective when students are presented with a compellingproblem.1, 2 The problem-based learning approach allows students to study a problem of interestin a team-based setting. A PBL study is student directed with opportunity for discussion, andoften the students rather than the instructor select the problem. Much of the new
. His research interests include: engineering education, geotechnical earthquake engi- neering, and hazard mitigation. Address: Department of Civil, Architectural & Environmental Engi- neering, 130 Butler Carlton Hall, Missouri S&T, Rolla, MO, 65409; telephone: (+1) 573.341.4484 be- gin of the skype highlighting(+1) 573.341.4484end of the skype highlighting; e-mail: rluna@mst.edu Page 22.123.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2011 A Web-Based Learning Module for Teaching GIS within the Context of Environmental EngineeringAbstractThere is a growing need for
. Page 22.164.2The decision making process has been well studied. The specific approaches to the decisionmaking process are as varied as the decision situations; however, it is widely accepted that thefollowing are the important elements of the process1,2,3: 1) Definition of the problem 2) Listing alternatives 3) Definition of criterion, values, or objectives that will be used for evaluation 4) Quantification of the importance of each criterion, value, or objective 5) Evaluation of each alternative for each criterion, value, or objective 6) Choice of a course of action based on the evaluationTo make better decisions in the wastewater treatment plant design process it is necessary tounderstand the values held
educational games and simulations. The followingparagraphs briefly review what is known in these areas of inquiry and relate them to simulationexercises in general and our work in particular.Behavioral theory is based on the belief that we learn that certain behaviors are good (or bad)based on the rewards, and/or punishments we receive for repeated actions; in other words desiredbehavior is repeated until it is learned.1 Skinner (1976) suggests that students learn better whenthey are forced to practice certain actions until they reach mastery.2 The behavioral theory oflearning became a key part of the early design of technological teaching aids (includingsimulation) for the military because of the ability to ask the user to repeat tasks multiple
residentialdwellings (See Figure 1). Its economic base is primarily from antique retail establishmentslocated within a community Historic District. The surrounding area has seen some growth withsubdivisions being developed to support the Elizabethtown urban area. No centralizedwastewater services exist, and the proliferation of on-site residential units, along with the Page 15.824.3existing base of older installations has limited the expansion of the retail establishments due toreluctance by the Health Department to permit new septic units in the “downtown” area. TheGlendale community lies within…miles of Valley Creek, which is one of the 39 segments listedin
engineering students often failto appreciate critical interrelations between technical and nontechnical aspects of sanitation. Toaddress this deficiency, a case-study module on sanitation for the developing world wasimplemented in a senior/graduate level onsite water reclamation course. The goal was to increasestudent awareness of the interplay between technical and nontechnical complexities whendesigning and implementing sanitation systems in both the developed and developing world.Learning objectives included increasing student familiarity with (1) perceptions and treatmentoptions of sanitary waste in developing countries and (2) nontechnical constraints and issues(such as economic, social, cultural, political, and ethical) associated with
-cultural theory as the framework of this research. We look to the process oflearning, not the product constructed as evidence of authentic practice. There is an emphasis onthe interaction between learners and learning tasks. Since STEM education is currently in thespotlight, gaining insights into Project STEP’s sustainability, using a socio-cultural perspective isimportant. Working with the urban youth in Cincinnati, Roth and Lee’s [1] statement that “aresearcher… does not separate the poverty or culture of urban students’ home lives fromconditions of schooling, consideration of the curriculum, problems of learning, or learning toteach under difficult settings” (p. 218) becomes vitally important. Wertsch [2] also shows therelationship between all
areas of: 1) sustainable site planning, 2)safeguarding water and water efficiency, 3) energy efficiency and renewable energy, 4)conservation of materials and resources, and 5) indoor environmental quality. A critical elementfor a successful sustainable building policy and program is an integrated building planning anddesign process. Integrated planning and design refers to an interactive and collaborative processin which all stakeholders are actively involved and communicate with one another throughoutthe design and construction practice. These processes provide a broader understanding ofsustainable options for infrastructure changes that may occur in various Base Realignment andClosure (BRAC) planning and implementation situations. A number of
Likert Scale. Please refer to Appendix D.One can observe from the bar chart that the two “traits”Characteristic # 1 (Environment: Fundamental Knowledge and Concepts) andCharacteristic # 4 (Depth of Understanding of the Importance of Environment)both show a respectable mode values of 4, indicating that the students have had an adequateunderstanding of the concepts and importance.However, the following other four other characteristics show mode values of 2 indicating thatthere is plenty of room for improvement:Characteristic # 2 (Ability to Address the Consequences Pertaining to Environment) Page 15.211.6Characteristic # 3 (Integration with Relevant
goals of normalized sustainability.Introduction:The broad popular concept of sustainability has grown from its roots in the United Nations’“Brundtland Commission” on sustainable development over two decades ago, which providedthe classical definition of “meet[ing] the needs of the present without compromising the abilityof future generations to meet their own needs.”1 Subsequent formulations of sustainability indifferent contexts have diverged from the initial Brundtland wording, but the basic themes ofintergenerational equity and long-term planning, often cast in terms of renewability, havegenerally remained as core concepts. The introduction of the “triple bottom line” of social, andenvironmental, and economic considerations2, and the related
GuilfordCounty middle schools that are labeled as Title I schools . Title I schools are funded with federalmoney to improve the achievement of low-income students. This group is targeted because lowsocioeconomic status girls are less likely to pursue careers in science and math related fields.1The camp was led by two STEM female faculty and an undergraduate female engineeringstudent. Figure 1: Participants of Girls in Science Lab learning to using pipettes. After months of strategy and curriculum planning for the camp, applications to the campwere made available to students currently in the 6th and 7th grade; these applications included astudent essay, parent essay, and a teacher recommendation. Using a rubric, the students thatwould
groups. Finally we will include thebenefits and costs from the faculty perspective. This will allow us to make suggestions forapplying this technique to other disciplines within engineering and other EnvironmentalEngineering courses.IntroductionSuccessful engineers possess not only technical skills but also the ability to apply these technicalskills to real life problems. In her book The 21st Century Engineer, Patricia D. Galloway statesthat, “While engineers remain strong in terms of their technological skills, they are generallyweak in terms of their management and communication capabilities.”1 (p. 2) In mostengineering curriculums, these management and communication capabilities are best learned inthe capstone, or design courses that students
design of a problem-based learning (PBL) air quality web-based unit and its incorporation into the lab portion of an environmental engineering course.Research questions include: R1) What themes emerge from student and instructor interviewsabout their PBL experience? R2) How can we use these themes to improve future PBLimplementation? Participants included 7 undergraduate, Introduction to EnvironmentalEngineering students (4 males, 3 females), 1 course instructor, and 2 graduate teaching assistantsfrom a large, Midwestern university. Researchers employed a formative evaluation approach,consisting of semi-structured interviews. Researchers used grounded theory to analyze data.Themes emerged in the following three categories: student implications
-class demonstrations and activities to convey fundamentals of environmental engineering to undergraduate students1. IntroductionAwareness of diverse learning styles is now recognized to be a critical step toward producingeffective learning experiences for students. Different learning styles were categorized by Felderand Silverman1 in the Index of Learning Styles (ILS) classification system based on studentperception and understanding of information (Figure 1). In the ILS system, student learning fallswithin a continuum represented by various types of students: students who favor receivinginformation from their senses, by observation, experimentation, and repetition (sensory) andstudents who prefer
ofsustainability.To provide a framework for the purpose of research methods it is useful to draw from thefoundational work of Pasteur16 (Figure 1). His quadrant points to the differences in research thatcan clearly be distinguished between basic and applied research.17 The y-axis represents the firstdistinction of defining the direct outcomes of the research. Basic research is associated with theadvancement of knowledge primarily and developing theories for why things are the way theyare. The y-axis depicts the relevance to the advancement of knowledge with basic researchassociated with a greater degree of relevance because of its theoretical implications. Whereas,the x-axis represents the second distinction of the ability of research findings to be applied
assessment.Prof. J¨org E Drewes, Colorado School of Mines J¨org E. Drewes is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of Research for the NSF Engineering Research Center on Reinventing the Nation’s Urban Water Infrastructure (ReNUWIt). He also serves as Co-Director of the Advanced Water Technology Center (AQWATEC) at the Colorado School of Mines, which he co-founded in 2007. Prof. Drewes’ research and scholarly activities have been in four areas for which he is internationally and nationally recognized and which are closely related based on the common thread of drinking water augmentation with water of impaired quality: (1) design and operation of managed aquifer recharge (MAR) systems including riverbank
for future use of the inverted coursemodel and recommendations for others are provided.BackgroundA number of studies in engineering, physics, and other disciplines have shown that activelearning by students during class rather than traditional lectures enhances student learning.1 Buthow can instructors de-design a class to allow more active learning? A flipped or invertedclassroom moves lectures out of class time to videos, thereby allowing time for active in-classactivities such as small group problem solving.2-7 A recent search of the American Society forEngineering Education (ASEE) conference proceedings website identified 238 papers thatincluded the search term “inverted classroom”. These lecture videos allow students to watch attheir own
this did not change in 2011. The pre- and post- surveys indicated the studentsrecognized the value of in class assessment as well as the use of response pads. The post- surveyshowed a statistically significant more positive response to considering the CLOs when studying.The final assessment method concerned an analysis of student performance on questions relatingto each CLO. In 2009 over five CLOs were not achieved, however in 2011, only 1 CLO was notachieved. These data indicate the introduced pedagogical approach was highly successful atimproving student learning of CLO content.Introduction and BackgroundActive learning has been defined as any activity that engages students in the learning process 1.This approach is often compared against
, respectively). Finally, 40% of students with 1st term GPAs less than 2.0 did notcomplete the full ABET curriculum, whereas all with 1st-term GPAs greater than 2.0 did.Understanding these relationships is important because by identifying students who may be atrisk of performing poorly prior to or at the beginning of a particular course or engineeringprogram, instructors and advisers can be ready to offer early assistance or objective evidence ofhow students with similar entering grades performed.(1) Introduction Students often seem almost “predestined” to receive a particular grade in a course or gradepoint average (GPA) in a major based on their past performance. The best students coming intothe course or major often appear to be the ones that
scientific judgement on any engineering problem. In our previous efforts (see Figure 1), we introduced writing as an essential tool to instillcritical thinking skills in junior and senior level Civil Engineering students. Other activitiesincluded supplemental instruction (SI), collaborative learning and project based learning of waterand wastewater treatment and environmental engineering concepts3-6. Writing assignmentsprovided a practical context that deepened student understanding and comprehension of thecontent area. Students developed written communication skills, a process for thinking throughand solving civil and environmental engineering problems. Active learning in the classroom andself-directed learning outside of classroom created
RHITcampus. The summer research experience was funded through an grant program within theinstitute, where the students received a summer stipend for ten weeks of work on this project. Asdescribed herein, the students successfully met the following learning objectives:1. conduct research on constructed treatment wetlands,2. develop multiple solutions to an engineering project and determine the merits and deficiencies of each solution,3. recommend the most appropriate solution based on developed criteria,4. explain and document the solution in writing, and5. construct the final recommended design under the supervision of the advisor.Design RequirementsThe goal of the constructed wetland is to filter water to remove nutrients, suspended solids
specifically discuss how re-grades were incorporated into a large 3rd year Introduction toEnvironmental Engineering class. Graded quizzes were returned to students with minimalcomments. The students then had one or two weeks to return the quiz and correct their mistakesand earn up to 50% of their missed points back. No points were returned unless the studentsexplained what they did wrong and how to correct their mistakes. The instructor was availableduring normal office hours to help students with their questions about the quiz.This presentation will address four main research questions based on students’ grades and asurvey: 1. Who are the students that took advantage of the quiz re-grading? We found that about90% of the students turned in at least