St. Louis, Missouri
June 18, 2000
June 18, 2000
June 21, 2000
2153-5965
19
5.600.1 - 5.600.19
10.18260/1-2--8761
https://peer.asee.org/8761
505
Team Teaching Technical Topics: An Innovative Approach to
Instruction in an Introductory Civil Engineering Course
(ID 473)
Anna Phillips, Paul Palazolo, and Charles Camp
The University of Memphis
Introduction
This research presents findings from a pilot study involving a multi-disciplinary team-teaching
instructional approach in an introductory civil engineering course. The study evolved from a
radical redesign of the introductory course sequence in civil engineering in 1994, and the
objectives of the pilot study focus an integrated approach to teaching communication skills,
advanced critical thinking skills, and problem solving skills based on authentic civil engineering
tasks.
During the spring semester of 1994, the Department of Civil Engineering at a large urban
university in the Mid-South reviewed the courses offered for the freshman and sophomore years.
The course offerings included a three-hour traditional surveying course, a three-hour course on
computer usage, and a three-hour programming course. Each of the courses had been developed a
number of years earlier and appeared to no longer reflect the skills or needs of student
populations. Both faculty and student interest in these courses was waning. Students would often
put these courses off until their final year in the program when they were "gotten over with".
Camp, C. V., & Phillips, A. P., & Palazolo, P. (2000, June), Team Teaching Technical Topics: An Innovative Approach To Instruction In An Introductory Civil Engineering Course Paper presented at 2000 Annual Conference, St. Louis, Missouri. 10.18260/1-2--8761
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