Reconnecting Chemical Engineering Students with the Physical World

工程-化学(53)目前的工程教育采用基于计算机的可视化和模拟来培养学生的学习。有证据表明，这些技术进步在提高学生对复杂理论的理解的同时，也导致了学生探索现实世界中的力、因果因素和影响的机会减少。其结果是，在我们的本科生中，身体体验机会的减少导致感知能力的减弱。在这个项目中，正在开发实验室练习，以重新将本科生化学工程专业的学生与物理世界联系起来。新的实验室体验强调促进身体洞察力和工程判断力的身体机会。这些活动旨在激发独立思考和创造力，同时促进人类感官的使用、触觉学习、修修补补和数据解释。该项目对学生学习的影响正在通过定性和定量措施进行严格评估。正在通过在各次会议上的发言和开发一个项目网站广泛传播项目成果。

Engineering - Chemical (53)Current engineering education embraces computer-based visualizations and simulations to foster student learning. There is evidence that these technological advances, while improving student understanding of complex theories, have simultaneously led to a decrease in opportunities for students to explore forces, causal factors, and effects in the real world. The result is that diminished opportunity to physically experience produces a diminished ability to perceive among our undergraduate students. In this project, laboratory exercises are being developed to reconnect undergraduate chemical engineering students with the physical world. The new lab experiences emphasize somatic opportunities that promote physical insight and engineering judgment. These activities are designed to stimulate independent thought and creativity while promoting use of the human senses, tactile learning, tinkering, and data interpretation. The project's impact on student learning is being rigorously assessed through qualitative and quantitative measures. Project results are being broadly disseminated through presentations at conferences and through the development of a project web site.