Collaborative Research: Constructionism in Learning: Sustainable Life Cycle Engineering (CooL:SLiCE)

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Including the consideration of sustainability, or the impact of human activity on the natural environment, into the design of consumer products is an important goal for both consumers and industry. However, engineering programs have struggled to find ways to effectively include the analysis of sustainability into engineering design education. This project will address this challenge by developing a cyberlearning environment that supports environmentally responsible product design through team-based and personalized design activities. The approach links 3D modeling and a product design database with an integrated manufacturing and supply chain analysis engine for environmental impact analysis. Team-based design activities will challenge students with sustainable product design problems using familiar products, such as skateboards, snowboards, and MP3 players. Successful implementation of the project will help to develop a new and affordable way for academic institutions to integrate sustainability topics into their curricula and prepare a skilled workforce that meets modern industry and consumer needs for sustainable product development.The project's learning platform - Constructionism in Learning: Sustainable Life Cycle Engineering (CooL:SLiCE) - is based on the constructivist theory in learning and supports the development of multi-stage problem solving skills that will be built into a real-world problem context in which fundamental design, customization, and sustainability issues are integrated with an artifact likely to be personally meaningful to the learners. This approach will give learners an opportunity to realize the implications of their choices as consumers by specifically focusing on environmentally responsible design. The work will explore the hypothesis that the CooL:SLiCE platform will provide a medium for deeper learning in students of environmentally responsible life cycle product design. Sustainable life cycle engineering learning modules to be developed and delivered along with the CooL:SLiCE platform will facilitate investigations on the impact of different levels of autonomy on student learning of sustainability. A unit process modeling concept will be employed in the CooL:SLiCE manufacturing analysis engine for quantifying process and supply chain performance metrics. It has been established that the topic of sustainability attracts the interest of students from groups currently underrepresented in STEM disciplines. Consequently this project will contribute to broadening participation in STEM by helping to integrate sustainability analysis into the engineering curriculum. Moreover, this research will provide an understanding of the role of the e-learning platform as a medium to educate learners in environmentally responsible design. The structured learning activities will provide information that will further research efforts seeking to develop a cyber-based analysis tool for sustainable life cycle engineering.