Conference Session

Engaging Students

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Leslie Hadaway, Norwood High School; Megan Urbaitis, Norwood High School; Regina Lamendella, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Daniel Oerther, University of Cincinnati; Andrea Burrows, The University of Cincinnati; Mike Borowczak, The University of Cincinnati; Anant Kukreti, The University of Cincinnati

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

source. This is aunique approach to high school science laboratory activities.All watershed data is collected and organized using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and graphingsoftware. Students are able to form conclusions using technology that is used in today’sworkplace. Initial findings regarding student response to this innovative teaching approachindicate that the actual application of molecular technology methods, employed to solve aproblem with an unknown conclusion, is very meaningful to students. Unlike other traditionalclassroom labs, neither the teacher nor the students know what the results of the watershed testsare before-hand. This type of innovative teaching approach, supported by research on inquirylessons, provides a more memorable

Conference Session

Engaging Students

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nicole Berge, University of South Carolina; Joseph Flora, University of South Carolina

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

. Short activities that periodically engage studentsduring class break up the monotony of traditional lectures and likely provide an opportunity forstudents “to start fresh again”.6 Inquiry-based activities have been incorporated intoundergraduate laboratory classes.1,7,8 During these activities, the students are responsible forposing a question, hypothesizing the outcome, developing an experiment to test their hypothesis,analyze data, and report their results. Activities of this type have been shown to increase learningand improve the overall laboratory experience.7,8 Martin et al.3 compared student performance inan inquiry-based and traditional lecture style biomedical engineering course. Results indicatedthat the degree of student acquired

Conference Session

Engaging Students

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bette Grauer, Kansas State University; Diana Grauer, Kansas State University

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

constructivist approach and isappropriate for entry-level engineering classes. It can be modified for use in upper levelengineering classes as well. To prepare for the emissions analysis lab, students study thecomposition of atmospheric gases, products of combustion, and the measurement of automotiveemissions. The laboratory component is the actual sampling of engine exhaust from studentselected automobiles using an exhaust emissions analyzer. Students use sample values ofemission concentrations for O2, CO, NO, and NO2, combustion kinetics, and fluid dynamics tocalculate the engine fuel flow rate, exhaust flow rate, and mass emission rates for CO and NOX.This paper presents an overview of the introductory studies followed by a description of

Conference Session

Enhancing Environmental Engineering Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mysore Narayanan, Miami University

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

students for the work ahead of them (Cox, Grasha and Richlin, 1997). This indeedhelps in raising expectations from the students. Whether it be performance arts like theatre andmusic, or be it a laboratory setting like physics or biology, student performance can beeffectively accentuated by adopting creative instructional lesson plans (Baxter-Magolda, 1992).Furthermore, many of our educational institutions have tried to move away from emphasizing theestablishment of a strong knowledge base (Young and Young, 1999). In other words, one cansay that declarative learning should only be a part of the learning process. It is important torecognize the fact that the discovery approach is gaining prominence day by day.Instructional Modules

Conference Session

Enhancing Environmental Engineering Education

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jess Everett, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

15.943.2materials before covering them in class. Calculation exercises were used as homework (HW) toPage 15.943.3Page 15.943.4was insufficient evidence to claim that students completing MML homework performed betterthan the students using traditional paper-based, instructor-graded homework (at a significancelevel of 0.05). However, the student success rate (final grade of A, B or C) was 70% in theMyMathLab group and 49% in the traditional homework group. In another study, introductoryphysics students completed homework using either the Web or paper.12 Performances on regularexams, conceptual exams, quizzes, laboratory, and homework showed no significant differencesbetween the two groups. Students in an electrical engineering signals and systems course

Conference Session

Engaging Students

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kristen Sanford Bernhardt, Lafayette College; Sharon Jones, Lafayette College; Christopher Ruebeck, Lafayette College; Jacqueline Isaacs, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering