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

工程-土木工程(54)这个项目的目标是通过提供一套彻底开发的案例研究和提高对失效分析知识在高等教育和公共安全中所起作用的认识，将失效分析整合到整个土木工程课程的课程中。预期的结果是关于失败案例研究的教育材料，以及用于土木工程和工程力学课程的测试评估材料。调查人员还组织了一系列为期一天的三次研讨会，将这些材料传播给美国各地的60名工程教职员工。来自全国各地的教职员工和执业工程师正在通过美国土木工程师协会(ASCE)法医工程技术委员会(TCFE)的各个委员会参与这些材料的开发。案例研究要求学生综合他们所学到的事实和工程原理，并将它们与他们在艺术、人文和科学方面的更广泛的教育结合起来。这有助于他们将技术方面、伦理问题和程序问题联系在一起，鼓励他们进行更高层次的思考，以便综合相关问题。评估工作是使用学生调查和焦点小组来确定这些案例研究的使用是否会让学生更深入地理解土木工程概念，并通过教师调查和访谈来确定他们对时间承诺和体验价值的看法。该项目小组正在ASCE Tcfe教育委员会的支持下开发课程补充书籍，通过ASCE出版物销售。该项目的更广泛影响是通过ASCE和三个教员讲习班传播案例研究。

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.