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Enhancement Of Chemical Engineering Introductory Curriculum Through Service Learning Implementation

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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 Student Learning

Tagged Division

Chemical Engineering

Page Count

12

Page Numbers

12.662.1 - 12.662.12

DOI

10.18260/1-2--2031

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/2031

Download Count

444

Paper Authors

biography

Jennifer Christensen Texas A&M University

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Jennifer Christensen is a junior in Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering. She is an officer in Texas A&M University Student Chapter of AIChE. She has significantly contributed to the implementation of the service learning project as directed studies and also served as a mentor to the participating students both in Fall 2006 and Spring 2007 semesters.

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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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Janie Stratton Haney Texas A&M University

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Janie Haney has graduated with a B.S. degree from Artie McFerrin Chemical Engineering Department in December, 2006. Prior to her graduation, she has served as a teaching assistant in introductory level material and energy balances course for three semesters consecutively. She has participated fully in the implementation of the service learning project and also mentored the participating students in Fall, 2006. She is currently working for Exxon as a process engineer.

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Mahmoud El-Halwagi Texas A&M University

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Mahmoud El-Halwagi is a Professor and Holder of Artie McFerrin Professorship. He has more than 20 years of experience in the field of integrated process design and synthesis including education, research, and software development.

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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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Charles Glover Texas A&M University

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Charles Glover is Associate Head for Undergraduate Studies in the Artie McFerrin Dept. 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

Enhancement of Chemical Engineering Introductory Curriculum through Service-Learning Implementation

Lale Yurttas, Jennifer Christensen, Janie Haney, Mahmoud El-Halwagi, Jeff Froyd, and Charles Glover Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University

Abstract As a part of a departmental curriculum reform project supported by the National Science Foundation, service-learning has been implemented in the first ChE sophomore-level course by a collaborative student and faculty effort to achieve the following: 1. Increase retention through student engagement with interesting and insightful projects that apply engineering principles to actual problems. 2. Engage students in social responsibility through real life projects and applications that in turn directly benefit the community and its members. 3. Build working relationships not only through student team work, but also through industrial and non-profit networking. 4. Create excitement for engineering through the promotion of sustainable technologies, project management, hands on experience, open-ended problems and project based learning.

To achieve these goals the first service-learning project has been given to the introductory level material and energy balances class for the fall of 2006. The general process for the project is as follows: 1. Formulation of project: Initial contact was made with many community based services and non-profit organizations, asking for service-learning opportunities. Proposals were discussed and selected according to pre-established project specification criteria. 2. Project promotion: Student teams assigned project with general outline and guidelines. Project requires planning, attention to detail, extra research for understanding of sustainable technologies for a creative solution, and transfer of learned concepts. 3. Designing and Project Completion: Field experts, professors and upperclassman mentors are available for guidance, support and collaborative learning. 4. Project Reflection: Written reports and oral presentations graded by professors and community representatives based on a rubric, including creativity, presentation, detail and application of engineering. Suggestions and constructive criticism given. Reflection on collective learning.

Service-learning benefits both the students participating and the community. Service- learning projects help students to establish connections between the concepts learned and the real life; promote team work; teach professional ethics and social responsibility; and provide opportunities for professional communication. In addition, basic economics will

Christensen, J., & Yurttas, L., & Stratton Haney, J., & El-Halwagi, M., & Froyd, J., & Glover, C. (2007, June), Enhancement Of Chemical Engineering Introductory Curriculum Through Service Learning Implementation Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--2031

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