Multi Campus Design And Implementation Of Problem Based Learning Courses In Environmental Biotechnology With Interdisciplinary Learning
- Conference
- Location
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Honolulu, Hawaii
- Publication Date
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June 24, 2007
- Start Date
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June 24, 2007
- End Date
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June 27, 2007
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
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Intersdisciplinary Courses and Environmental Undergraduate Research
- Tagged Division
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Environmental Engineering
- Page Count
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12
- Page Numbers
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12.1083.1 - 12.1083.12
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--1513
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/1513
- Download Count
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354
Paper Authors
Helene Hilger University of North Carolina-Charlotte
Helene A. Hilger is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of North Carolina – Charlotte. Dr. Hilger is a registered Professional Engineer, and she teaches courses in environmental engineering and sustainable design. Her research focuses on microbiological aspects of pollution prevention and remediation. Dr. Hilger received a B.A. in Biology from Douglass College, Rutgers University; a B.S.C.E and M.S.C.E from UNC Charlotte; and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from North Carolina State University.
Francis De Los Reyes North Carolina State University
Francis L. de los Reyes III is an Associate Professor of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University. He teaches courses in water and wastewater treatment, environmental microbiology, and environmental biotechnology. His research areas are in environmental biotechnology, molecular microbial ecology, and bioreactor engineering. Dr. de los Reyes received a BS in Agricultural Engineering from the University of the Philippines, Los Banos, a MSCE from Iowa State University, and an PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Warren DiBiase University of North Carolina-Charlotte
Warren J. DiBiase is an Associate Professor of Science Education at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. e teaches courses in both science education and secondary education as well as a course in science, technology and society. Dr. DiBiase received a BS in Zoology and BSEd in Secondary Education from Ohio University, a MSEd in Secondary Education from Youngstown State University and an EdD in Curriculum and Instruction-Science Education from West Virginia University.
Len Holmes University of North Carolina - Pembroke
Len Holmes is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina –Pembroke. Dr. Holmes teaches biochemistry and biotechnology-related courses, primarily to undergraduate majors. Holmes received a B.S. in Biology from Westfield State College and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Utah State University.
Stephanie Luster-Teasley North Carolina A&T State University
Siva Mandjiny University of North Carolina - Pembroke
Siva Mandjiny is an Associate Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke (UNCP), Pembroke, North Carolina. Dr. Mandjiny teaches many courses for the Biotechnology Program at UNCP. Dr. Mandjiny received a B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Madras, India, a M.Tech. in Biochemical Engineering from I.I.T, New Delhi, India, a M.Eng. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto, Canada and a Ph.D. in Biological Engineering from Universite de Technologie de Compiegne, France.
Todd Steck University of North Carolina-Charlotte
Todd R. Steck is an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of North Carolina† Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dr. Steck teaches courses in molecular biology, bacterial genetics, and environmental biotechnology. He received a B.S. in Biology from Allegheny College, a M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Rochester, and has held post-doctoral research positions at The University of Pittsburgh, The University of California-Davis, and Purdue University.
Keith Schimmel
North Carolina A&T State University
orcid.org/https://0000-0002-4048-7250
Keith Schimmel is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Director of the Energy & Environmental Ph.D. Program at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Greensboro, North Carolina. Dr. Schimmel is a registered Professional Engineer, and he received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University and M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University.
Chuang Wang University of North Carolina-Charlotte
Chuang Wang is an Assistant Professor of Educational Research at the University of North Carolina - Charlotte. Dr. Wang teaches educational research and statistics courses. Dr. Wang received a master of applied statistics degree and a PhD degree in educational research from The Ohio State University.
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
MULTI-CAMPUS DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF PROBLEM-BASED-LEARNING COURSES IN ENVIRONMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY WITH INTERDISCIPLINARY LEARNING
Introduction
The project described here began with a civil engineering and biology laboratory research collaboration that ultimately led to educational research about course development and pedagogy. The laboratory research was centered on genetically engineered organisms for contaminant tracking, and it soon became apparent that neither students from civil engineering nor biology had the requisite backgrounds to work on this type of project without some supplementary tutoring. As a result, a team-taught environmental biotechnology (EB) course was piloted that was cross-listed between the two departments, and although it was satisfactory, it suffered some deficiencies because it was difficult to find the right content balance between the two disciplines.
At about the same time, two sister institutions were also expanding their biotechnology offerings. North Carolina State University had just hired a new civil engineer with expertise in molecular biology who was developing new courses; and at UNC-Pembroke, a variety of bioprocess equipment had been donated, leading to interest there in designing a new biotechnology curriculum track. As we tweaked our course design, there was a sense that efforts were being duplicated and that there was a missed opportunity to capitalize on the collective expertise of the faculty at each institution. Further, there was a realization that the phenomenon of simultaneous development of similar courses at sister campuses in response to emerging disciplines likely was being played out in many other multi-campus university systems.
Thus began a collaboration among civil engineering, biology, chemistry, chemical engineering, and education faculty at various University of North Carolina (UNC) campuses to design a single environmental biotechnology course template that would (a) incorporate the most current and effective learning paradigms; (b) be readily adaptable to a variety of settings within a single university system; and (c) would receive buy- in to both the curriculum and instructional methods from diverse faculty within those settings. The science educator recommended the use of student-centered learning methods (SCLM), which have received a great deal of focused promotion because of their perceived value among educators but are still not used widely or well among science and engineering faculty1. These methods typically involve student group information gathering and problem solving and have been shown to promote improved investigatory and critical thinking skills and to prepare students for the more team-based interdisciplinary nature of the work environment2,3,4.
Upon obtaining support from the federal Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE), a three-year research program was mapped out. The specific research objectives, the results from Year 1 and some lessons learned are described below.
Research Objectives
The research objectives were to:
1. Use the combined expertise of education, biology, and engineering faculty and graduate students to implement open-ended inquiry through problem-based learning (PBL) as the instructional strategy in a series of environmental biotechnology courses;
Hilger, H., & De Los Reyes, F., & DiBiase, W., & Holmes, L., & Luster-Teasley, S., & Mandjiny, S., & Steck, T., & Schimmel, K., & Wang, C. (2007, June), Multi Campus Design And Implementation Of Problem Based Learning Courses In Environmental Biotechnology With Interdisciplinary Learning Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--1513
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