2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The distribution of graded assignments, and the points available therein, was studied across 14 of our institution’s junior- and senior-level environmental engineering courses. Several of the courses studied incorporated teamwork as a stated course objective or a student learning outcome, while many instructors separately chose to implement teamwork as one of their stated teaching methods. Point distribution, whether on assignments submitted by individual students or those by groups or teams of students, varied by course based on several factors, including teamwork as a stated course objective or peer learning as a priority for the course instructor. For our ABET-accredited Environmental Engineering major, achievement of ABET Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC) Student Outcome 5 was also a factor, with teamwork incorporated on graded assignments to achieve ABET EAC Student Outcome 5. Courses with labs and sizeable design projects, especially those tied to ABET EAC Student Outcome 5, had a much larger fraction of team-based activity points than those without labs or large course projects. To examine teamwork as a teaching method, an evaluation of student grades indicated that team-based activities did not equally benefit all students, with lower performing students receiving a larger grade benefit. In similar fashion, group learning exercises did not significantly improve student learning for subsequently administered individual exams. When student learning related to team selection methodologies were examined within a large enrollment course, it was concluded that students who selected their own teams earned grades that mirrored their overall course grade. Lower performing students who were randomly assigned, or purposefully grouped with higher performing students based on previous performance, typically earned higher grades on the group assignment than other events in the course. However, the increased grade in these cases did not consistently reflect improved individual performance.