Asee peer logo

Designing Local Food Systems: Results from a Three-Year Pilot

Download Paper |

Conference

2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Baltimore , Maryland

Publication Date

June 25, 2023

Start Date

June 25, 2023

End Date

June 28, 2023

Conference Session

Environmental Engineering Division (ENVIRON) Technical Session 3

Tagged Division

Environmental Engineering Division (ENVIRON)

Page Count

31

DOI

10.18260/1-2--42990

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/42990

Download Count

403

Paper Authors

biography

Daniel B. Oerther Missouri University of Science and Technology Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-6724-3205

visit author page

Professor Daniel B. Oerther, PhD, PE, BCEE, BCES joined the faculty of the Missouri University of Science and Technology in 2010 as the John A. and Susan Mathes Chair of Civil Engineering after serving ten years on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati where he was the chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

visit author page

author page

Sarah Hultine Massengale University of Missouri - St. Louis

author page

Sarah Oerther Saint Louis University

Download Paper |

Abstract

A redesigned course employing blended delivery, a flipped format, and modified mastery learning with a buffet approach to assign final grades was used to teach engineering design to approximately 25 dual-level (juniors, seniors, and first year graduate) students pursuing baccalaureate degrees in environmental, civil, or architectural engineering or a graduate degree in environmental engineering. The course replaced a traditional pedagogical format that used lecture-discussion augment with extended homework assignments and a semester-long design project, which focused on the content of designing a wastewater treatment plants. The redesigned course uses the engineering design process to improve the local food system, which includes aspects of sustainability and life cycle principles of water, carbon, and nutrients. Spanning the full impact of COVID-19 (spring semester 2020 initial disruption and movement to remote learning; spring 2021 online instruction; and spring 2022 a return to face-to-face instruction), this paper describes: a) details of course pedagogy; b) details of course content; and 3) outcomes from three course offerings over a period of three years to 84 students. Attributes of this course described in this article, include: 1) students completed lecture content mapped closely to the Environmental Engineering Body of Knowledge (EnvEng BoK) and the design criteria described by the Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) of ABET Inc.; 2) students prepared podcasts to teach design principles to specific audiences (i.e., high school students, peers, and public officials); and 3) students worked independently and in small groups to perform term-length design exercises. A unique aspect of this course included interdisciplinary involvement of faculty from environmental engineering, University extension, and nursing to provide both breadth in how to engage with communities for design (i.e., from a nursing perspective) as well as depth in how to understand and consider local food systems (i.e., from a University extension perspective).

Oerther, D. B., & Hultine Massengale, S., & Oerther, S. (2023, June), Designing Local Food Systems: Results from a Three-Year Pilot Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42990

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2023 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015