Grant recipients and project team:Ìý
Rania Al-Hammoud, Department ofÌýCivil & Environmental Engineering
Scott Walbridge, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Stephen Phillips, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Kayleanna Giesinger,ÌýDepartment of Civil & Environmental Engineering
(Project timeline: September 2017Ìý- August 2018)
Description
In second year civil engineering, students participate in a horizontally integrated bridge design project to increase their exposure to engineering application and prepare for their fourth-year design project. To compliment this project, aÌýtwo-dayÌýevent called CivE DaysÌýwas implemented. This event freedÌýstudents from classes and deadlines and allowed them to completely immerse themselves in a simulated bridge design project.ÌýTheÌýset-up of the event is split into four stages: preliminary design, bridge construction, bridge testing and project reflection. LearningÌýtakes placeÌýthrough a combination of experientialÌýlearning,Ìýgroup work,Ìýreflective learning,Ìýand learning from failure.ÌýAll of these pedagogical approaches promote a deeper level of learning for students and enhance knowledge retention in upperÌýyears.ÌýThe effectiveness ofÌýthe CivEÌýDays initiative wasÌýevaluated through the final bridge project testing results, final bridge project report marks, and surveys submitted at the end of the CivE Days event.ÌýIt was found thatÌýstudent grades and performance improved, indicatingÌýaÌýbetter understanding ofÌýtheÌýbridge design project and how the information from the different courses are integrated.
Questions Investigated
The intended outcomes of this event aimed at allowing students to have aÌýbetter understandingÌýofÌýtheÌýpopsicle sticks bridge design projectÌýrequirementsÌýand how the information from the different courses are integrated.ÌýThroughÌýCivEÌýDays, students have the supervised timeÌýthat allows them to increase their exposureÌýand experiment withÌýthe required design components of the project.ÌýThis gives studentsÌýearly exposure to project concepts which prevents them fromÌýstarting their project last minute. As a result, it was predicted that the final bridge design projects would be completed withÌýbetter quality, more creativeÌýdesigns,Ìýand demonstrate a better understanding of related concepts from their courses.
The learning methods utilized inÌýCivEÌýDaysÌýinclude student interest directed learning,Ìýexperiential learning,Ìýlearning through failure, and reflective learning. The hands-onÌýnature ofÌýCivEÌýDays and the layout of the tasks within itÌýallows for diverse learning techniques and thoroughÌýreflections.ÌýTheÌýevent was not graded to allowÌýstudents toÌýexperimentÌýand learnÌýin a stress-free atmosphere.ÌýTheÌýtesting and reflection aspects ofÌýCivEÌýDaysÌýallows students to learn through failure.ÌýAll of these pedagogical approaches promote a deeper level of learning for studentsÌýand enhance retention in upper years
Findings/Insights
The data collection for CivE Days was broken into three methods. These methods were, student survey responses, bridge project grades, and reflection report feedback. These various methods aimed to gauge student satisfaction and to quantify the effectiveness of the event in helping with the popsicle stick bridge design project. Overall, participation in the optional CivE Days event was successful, with 121 out of 165 students choosing to partake.
As described earlier, after CivE Days, students were given an optional survey to complete, and 83% of participating students filled out the survey. The survey aimed to assess the student satisfaction and to determine the immediate student response for the course integration and freedom for creativity. The results showed that 83% of people who participated chose to come because of the content being covered. Fifty-seven percent of those students thought it seemed interesting and fun, while 26% wanted the opportunity to prepare for the bridge project. The remaining 17% were interested in free food and prizes.
When asked if students wanted to participate in a similar event again in the future, 86% said they would. It is also shown in Figure 2 that most of the students preferred not having a graded component to the event.
The results from the 2017 class grades compared to the 2016 class are shown in Figure 6. The overall bridge testing performance had a 4% grade increase with 2% more of the class being able to withstand the minimum strength to weight squared ratio of 250. The 2016 class had 89 out of 121 students achieve the goal and 124 out of 165 students in the 2017 class. Also, the average of the final report and the overall project mark of the 2017 class increased by 7% compared to the 2016 class.
The final form of data collected was student responses through the reflection report in the course project. The reflection reports discussed the direct impact of CivE Days on the popsicle sticks bridge design project. Common themes included CivE Days being a fun and rewarding experience that connected them to applications of their courses. Students were happy with how fun it was and felt that it was a nice break from the stress of school. However, some students thought that the benefits of CivE Days to their bridge design project were limited. They felt that the bridge building materials used for both projects were too different. Many of the problems faced were material specific and therefore limited the usefulness of the CivE Days as a practice design.
Dissemination and Impact
- At the individual level:ÌýStudents and colleagues found this to be engaging. A good number of faculty interacted with the students during these days. Students who participated reflected that this was an exciting project where they can have fun and learn at the same time.
- At the Department/School and/or Faculty/Unit levels:ÌýThis was presented in the department meeting and was shared as a highlight event at several of the faculty gathering (e.g.,. announcement of the NSERC design chair and opening of the Engineering 7 building). It was promoted on the Civil engineering website. There is an initial discussion of how to make this event embedded into the curriculum.
- At the institutional (uÀ¶Ý®ÊÓƵ) level:ÌýThis was presented at University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ Teaching and Learning ConferenceÌýin April 2018.
- At the national and/or international levels: At the national level, a paper was presented at the Canadian Engineering Education Association conference (CEEA 2018) in June at Vancouver, BC Canada. The paper shared data from the CivE design days as well as others done in different programs.ÌýAt the international level, a paper was presented at the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE 2018) in June at Salt Lake City in Utah, and it received a wide acceptance and discussion in the conference.
Impact of the Project
- Teaching:ÌýAs my experience with the design days, it is my intention to continue to implement this event in future years and try to make this as part of the curriculum.Ìý
- Involvement in other activities or projects:ÌýBecause of the success of this project, I was able to initiate EnvE/GeoE design days for the 2A and 1B students in my department, that were a success as well. One was implemented in March 2018 and the other was implemented in May 2018. We also initiated AE Design days in September 2018 as a way to start the new program that started in our department.ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý
- Connections with people from different departments, faculties, and/or disciplines about teaching and learning:ÌýThis was also presented in the Integrative learning series that was presented within the faculty of engineering for all engineering disciplines.Ìý
References
Project Reference List (PDF)