Development and Assessment of Full-scale Experiential Learning Opportunities in Structural Engineering

土木工程师负责我国基础设施的设计、建造、维护和翻新。一支训练有素的劳动力队伍对这一基础设施的继续运作和改善至关重要。全国各地的土木工程项目在学习过程中利用小规模的动手项目和/或大型概念性项目。然而，小规模的动手项目有时会限制学生准确预测结构的能力和性能。此外，由于规模和必要的测试能力，土木工程专业的学生很少有机会看到实际建造或测试的大型概念性项目。学生有机会体验全尺寸结构部件的设计和测试，这对于他们理解结构工程概念是必不可少的。因此，对于学生来说，有必要体验更多真实世界的、实践的学习机会，并使用适当的量表成功地说明结构性行为。该项目将为本科生提供大规模的实践学习机会，增加他们在进入劳动力市场之前对概念的理解。学生将有机会在圣路易斯大学和罗斯-胡尔曼理工学院的四门课程中设计、建造和测试各种结构部件。在这个项目中获得的知识和开发的资源将被广泛传播，对其他土木工程项目产生积极影响。该项目将改善STEM的学习和学习环境，并帮助建设面向未来的专业STEM劳动力队伍。更具体地说，该项目有三个主要目标：(1)在圣路易斯大学和罗斯-霍尔曼理工学院的结构工程课程中开发和实施小规模和全面的体验式学习模块，(2)评估学生的学习及其对本科教育的影响，以及(3)传播研究结果和资源，以便在全国同行机构产生更广泛的影响。将开发和实施体验式学习模块，使学生能够直观地了解结构部件的行为，并准确预测结构部件的能力和失效模式。这样的模块将被广泛传播，供其他工程项目使用。体验式学习模块对学生学习的影响将通过比较学生的学习表现、课程结束调查的回答和标准化的工程考试基础数据来评估。将编写教育材料并传播评估结果，以确保可持续性和可转移性。拟议项目的结果将产生一套与结构工程有关的全面发展的体验式学习单元，以及对该项目对学生学习和参与的有效性的全面评估。

Civil engineers are responsible for the design, construction, maintenance, and renovation of our nation's infrastructure. A well-prepared workforce is crucial for the continued operation of and improvement of this infrastructure. Civil engineering programs across the country utilize small-scale hands-on projects and/or large-scale conceptual projects in the learning process. However, small-scale hands-on projects sometimes limit students' ability to accurately predict the capacity and performance of a structure. Furthermore, civil engineering students rarely have an opportunity to see a large-scale conceptual project actually built or tested due to the size and the necessary testing capabilities. An opportunity for students to experience the design and testing of full-scale structural components is essential to their understanding of structural engineering concepts. Thus, there is a significant need for students to experience more real-world, hands-on learning opportunities with appropriate scales that successfully illustrate structural behavior. This project will provide undergraduate students with large-scale hands-on learning opportunities that will increase their conceptual understanding before entering the workforce. Students will have the opportunity to design, construct, and test a variety of structural components in four courses at Saint Louis University and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Knowledge gained during this project and resources developed will be disseminated widely to positively impact other civil engineering programs. This project will lead to improving STEM learning and learning environments, as well as aid in building the professional STEM workforce for tomorrow.More specifically, there are three primary goals for this project: (1) to develop and implement small-scale and full-scale experiential learning modules in structural engineering courses at Saint Louis University and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, (2) to assess student learning and impact on undergraduate education, and (3) to disseminate findings and resources for wider impact at peer institutions across the country. Experiential learning modules will be developed and implemented to allow students to visualize the behavior and accurately predict capacities and failure modes of structural components. Such modules will be disseminated widely for use by other engineering programs. The impact of the experiential learning modules on student learning will be assessed by comparing students' learning performance, end-of-course survey responses, and standardized fundamentals of engineering exam data. Educational materials will be created and the assessment results disseminated to ensure sustainability and transferability to peer institutions. The outcomes of the proposed project will result in a fully developed set of experiential learning modules related to structural engineering along with a full assessment of the project's effectiveness on student learning and engagement.