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A Web Based Complement To Teaching Conservation Of Mass In A Chemical Engineering Curriculum

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Conference

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Honolulu, Hawaii

Publication Date

June 24, 2007

Start Date

June 24, 2007

End Date

June 27, 2007

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

ChE: Innovations in undergraduate and graduate programs

Tagged Division

Chemical Engineering

Page Count

12

Page Numbers

12.153.1 - 12.153.12

DOI

10.18260/1-2--1606

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/1606

Download Count

618

Paper Authors

biography

Lale Yurttas Texas A&M University

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Lale Yurttas is a Senior Lecturer and Assistant Department Head in Chemical Engineering Department at Texas A&M University. She chairs Departmental ABET Committee. She also participates in Engineers Without Borders-USA, especially in TAMU Chapter and coordinates service learning activities for the current NSF project. She has 10 years of experience in engineering education and curriculum development.

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Zachry Kraus Texas A&M University

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Zachary Kraus is a Ph.D. student at Texas A&M University in the Department of Chemical Engineering department. His research interests are in asphalt binder rheology and engineering education.

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Jeffrey Froyd Texas A&M University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-4426-2681

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Jeff Froyd is a Research Professor in the Center for Teaching Excellence and Director of Academic Development and the Director of Academic Development in the Texas Engineering Experiment Station. He served as Project Director for the Foundation Coalition, an NSF Engineering Education Coalition and helped create the Integrated, First-Year Curriculum in Science, Engineering and Mathematics at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. His current interests are learning and faculty development.

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Jean Layne Texas A&M University

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Jean Layne is a Program Coordinator and Instructional Consultant with the Center for Teaching Excellence at Texas A&M University. She has co-authored articles and chapters on faculty learning communities, the teaching portfolio, and other faculty professional development topics. She can be reached at j-layne@tamu.edu.

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Mahmoud El-Halwagi Texas A&M University

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Mahmoud El-Halwagi is a professor and holder of the McFerrin Professorship in chemical engineering at Texas A&M University. His main teaching and research interests involve process integration, sustainable design, and pollution prevention. Dr. El-Halwagi is the author of two textbooks on process integration and pollution prevention.

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Charles Glover Texas A&M University

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Charles Glover is Associate Head for Undergraduate Studies in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering where he has served on the faculty since 1977. Previous educational efforts included development of a sophomore year engineering program founded on the integrating principles of the conservation laws framework.

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Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

A Web-based Complement to Teaching Conservation of Mass in a Chemical Engineering Curriculum

Abstract

Web-based instructional modules have been widely used to teach engineering topics. In many cases, the modules are developed for a chosen topic at a specific point in the curriculum. A different approach is being pursued to develop interlinked curriculum components (ICCs), which can be used by students at many different points in the four-year curriculum. As envisioned during their development, faculty members might use an ICC to introduce students to a set of concepts or use an ICC to provide a review of a set of concepts when they will be used in a more advanced course. The initial ICC prototype focuses on conservation of mass (CoM). A description of the CoM ICC is provided together with preliminary results.

Introduction

A chemical engineering department, with NSF support, is renewing its entire four-year curriculum to achieve four additional student learning outcomes: 1. Apply fundamental ideas over an expanded range of time and length scales 2. Apply ChE fundamental ideas to emerging application areas 3. Construct solutions for more complex, more open-ended synthesis tasks 4. Transfer fundamentals and knowledge to unforeseen future challenges1.

To achieve this comprehensive result, the project has adopted three strategic approaches: 1. Curriculum content renewal and development: Extend an existing unifying framework to incorporate expanded time and length scales, encompass emerging and traditional application areas, and increase emphasis on design and synthesis. 2. Student assessment: Develop assessment strategies for the additional learning outcomes. 3. Faculty development: Support faculty members as they assimilate new research on assessment, learning and teaching.

Interlinked curriculum components, or ICCs, are a major part of the curriculum renewal process. An ICC is a Web-based resource for teaching and learning as well as a ‘chunk’ of material that is significantly smaller than a typical semester course. Some ICCs focus on ‘narrow and deep’ ideas, e.g., specific application areas or skills; while many ICCs focus on common concepts (e.g. conservation laws) that span courses and application areas. The project team developed the concept and format of ICCs to increase unity, coherence, and efficiency and maintain effectiveness of the new curriculum.

This paper focuses on one ICC, which is built around conservation of mass, which appears throughout a ChE curriculum and can be summarized in a deceptively simple statement (where each term applies to the same specific time period):

Yurttas, L., & Kraus, Z., & Froyd, J., & Layne, J., & El-Halwagi, M., & Glover, C. (2007, June), A Web Based Complement To Teaching Conservation Of Mass In A Chemical Engineering Curriculum Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--1606

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