Assessing the Impact of Case Studies on the Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Curriculum

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Engineering - Civil (54)The goal of this project is to integrate failure analysis into courses throughout the civil engineering curriculum by providing access to a set of thoroughly developed case studies and by heightening the appreciation of the role failure analysis knowledge can play in higher education and public safety. The expected outcomes are educational materials on failure case studies, along with tested assessment materials, for use in civil engineering and engineering mechanics courses. The investigators also are organizing a series of three one-day workshops to disseminate these materials to 60 engineering faculty members across the U.S. Faculty members and practicing engineers from across the country are participating in the development of these materials through the various committees of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Technical Council on Forensic Engineering (TCFE). The case studies require students to synthesize the facts and engineering principles they have learned, and combine them with their broader education in the arts, humanities, and sciences. This helps them tie together technical aspects, ethical issues, and procedural issues, encouraging them to undertake higher order thinking in order to synthesize the relevant issues. The evaluation effort is using student surveys and focus groups to determine if the use of these case studies leads the students to a deeper understanding of civil engineering concepts and faculty surveys and interviews to determine their perceptions about time commitments and value of the experiences. The project team is developing course supplemental books under the auspice of the ASCE TCFE Education Committee to be sold through ASCE publications. The broader impacts of the project are resulting from the dissemination of the case studies through ASCE and through the three faculty workshops.