Conference Session

Best in 5 Minutes: Demonstrating Interactive Teaching Activities

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Michael A. Butkus, United States Military Academy; Anand Deju Shetty, United States Military Academy; Benjamin Michael Wallen P.E., United States Military Academy; Nathaniel Sheehan, United States Military Academy; Andrew Ross Pfluger, United States Military Academy

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering

process that is used extensively to removecontaminants from water and air. Environmental engineering faculty typically teach this topic bydescribing mathematical models that are used to quantify adsorption. This approach, by itself,may result in students having an incomplete understanding of adsorption because studentsfrequently have difficulty visualizing scientific phenomena such as the mass transfer process thatoccurs during adsorption. A hands-on laboratory experiment (cf. Speitel, 2001) where studentscollect and analyze adsorption data, may enhance students’ understanding of adsorption.Undeniably, hands-on experiences help students develop a deeper understanding of principlesstudied in and out of the classroom (Butkus et al., 2004; Pfluger

Conference Session

Innovative Approaches to Improving Student Learning

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Cara J. Poor, University of Portland; Heather Dillon, University of Portland; Jeffrey Matthew Welch, University of Portland; Nicole C. Ralston, University of Portland

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

improve conceptual understanding and critical thinking.Dr. Heather Dillon, University of Portland Dr. Heather Dillon is an Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Portland. Her research team is working on energy efficiency, renewable energy, fundamental heat transfer, and engineering education. Before joining the university, Heather Dillon worked for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) as a senior research engineer.Jeffrey Matthew Welch, University of Portland Jeff Welch is a doctoral student in educational leadership at the University of Portland (Oregon, USA).Dr. Nicole C. Ralston, University of Portland Dr. Nicole Ralston is an Assistant Professor and co-Director of the

Conference Session

Best in 5 Minutes: Demonstrating Interactive Teaching Activities

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Ruth Abigail Mower, United States Military Academy; Erick Martinez P.E., United States Military Academy; Landon M. Raby, United States Military Academy; John Boyle, United States Military Academy, West Point; Andrew Ross Pfluger, United States Military Academy

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering

; Bird B-KER2 Laboratory Jars and Masterflex Tygon lab tubing toconnect both, one student holds the reservoir at a fixed location simulating a water source suchas a natural spring, lake, or river, and another student adjusts the elevation of the tap stand usinga simulated gate valve from the sampling port of the laboratory jar. As the tap stand locationremains lower than the location of the reservoir, students can notice water continuing to flow asthe third student is responsible for turning the tap stand valve on and off. However, as soon asthe location of the tap stand is higher than the location of the reservoir, water flow stops. Thus,students realize that the location of the outflow must be lower than the location of the inflowassuming

Conference Session

Best in 5 Minutes: Demonstrating Interactive Teaching Activities

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Anthony Battistini, Angelo State University

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering

duringclass and many steel design courses do not require a laboratory component. The following paperwill describe how the author uses trash bags with bolt holes to describe the concepts of yieldingand fracture, while also introducing a little bit of comedy into the classroom. Answers to themost common student questions are also provided.MotivationFor the first two or three times the author taught an introductory steel design course, he noticedthat many students were not able to clearly describe yielding in materials. From previous coursesin mechanics of materials and structural analysis, the students recognized that yielding, alongwith fracture, were both limit states to be checked, but they struggled to differentiate between thetwo failure modes and

Conference Session

Best in 5 Minutes: Demonstrating Interactive Teaching Activities

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Daniel Hochstein, Manhattan College

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering

material properties of concrete.The first week of the semester in the reinforced concrete course is used to review both the materialproperties of unreinforced concrete and relevant laboratory tests, including compression, splittension, and flexure. The second week of the course is used to introduce the students to themechanical response of reinforced concrete beams, which includes a discussion of the differenttypes of failure modes and an overview of the internal couple method. During the third week ofthe course, the students learn how to calculate the flexural strength of reinforced concrete beamsthrough application of the internal couple method. The lecture titled “Is The Whole Greater Thanthe Sum of Its Parts? – Aristotle’s Insight into the

Conference Session

Best in 5 Minutes: Demonstrating Interactive Teaching Activities

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Scott A Civjan P.E., University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering

would be applicableto any construction site field trip.Defining goals and objectivesMason (1) reviewed 43 studies on the effectiveness of field trips at the university, secondary andelementary education levels. Though most of the included studies related to science activities andmany compared field trips as a substitute instruction for class or laboratory instruction, theauthor concluded that Virtually all results indicated that field work should be used in conjunction with, or supplementary to, other methods of instruction.The recommendations stated by McLoughlin (6) are a good starting point for any field trip.Specifically, the field trip should be planned such that students actively seek out information that makes them

Conference Session

A Focus on Sustainability

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Inez Hua, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Monica E. Cardella, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

concluding activities occurredon the campus of Purdue University. The six week, on-campus portion of the program beganwith an orientation week. The orientation week included hand-on demonstrations to topics suchas electronics materials properties, global supply chains and computer assembly/disassembly,training from the libraries on how to conduct primary literature surveys, and field trips toadvanced manufacturing facilities and recycling centers. During the orientation week, teachersalso completed project specific training on laboratory methods, modeling tools, and safety, asappropriate to each research group, and discussion about teaching engineering in a service-learning context. As the program progressed, participants completed weekly

Conference Session

A Focus on Sustainability

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Azadeh Bolhari P.E., Angelo State University; Daniel Ivan Castaneda, James Madison University; Kenneth Stewart, Angelo State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

participants) from variouscommunity organizations and events to participate in this project, as citizen scientists (see Table3). Recruiting focused on low-income, Latinx families because they represent a vulnerablepopulation that does not often participate in citizen science projects. The families completedinitial screening interviews to establish a baseline of their perceptions of drought, drought-resiliency, water conservation and water quality testing. The project required a commitment ofapproximately six months to construct an acrylic concrete rainwater harvesting tank at ourengineering laboratory, adopt it for home use, document water usage, and collect rainwatersamples for quality testing. The tanks were built with a metal frame covered with a

Conference Session

Best in 5 Minutes: Demonstrating Interactive Teaching Activities

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Benjamin Michael Wallen P.E., United States Military Academy; Michael A. Butkus, United States Military Academy; Nathaniel P. Sheehan, United States Military Academy; Andrew Ng, United States Military Academy; Andrew Ross Pfluger, United States Military Academy

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering, Environmental Engineering

. Plante, and J. A. Starke, “Long-term impact on environmental attitudes and knowledge assessed over three semesters of an environmental engineering sequence,” American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference, #26444, Tampa, Florida, 15-19 June 2019.[6] L. Ballard and R. Felder, “A student-centered approach to teaching material and energy balances 2. Course delivery and assessment,” Chemical Engineering Education, vol. 41, pp. 167-176, 2007.[7] D. Ramirez Hernandez, “Solving Material Balance Problems at Unsteady State Using a Remote Laboratory in the Classroom,” American Society for Engineering Education, 2013.[8] K. Apostolou, “Effectiveness of blended learning for an energy balance course