2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Project-Based Service Learning (PBSL) has recently become an essential pedagogical tool in engineering education. Through a PBSL experience, students enhance their learning and build a meaningful connection with the community by contributing their engineering skills and knowledge to impact a socio-cultural problem. These PBSL experiences are student-based, specifically designed to align with the course objectives and connect with the community’s needs. Therefore, there are profound effects of PBSLs that benefit all students (inclusive of background and cultural groups), foster creative and critical thinking, promote engagement and teamwork, and implement engineering solutions to real-world problems.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the world in all respects and continues to pose unprecedented challenges to public health and the economy. This virus primarily spreads through respiratory aerosols from infected individuals. Improved indoor air filtration processes and proper ventilation of public spaces are some of the mitigation strategies to prevent the transmission of this virus. Unfortunately, these strategies are challenging and expensive for many public schools across the United States due to older infrastructure, leading to a need for simple, effective indoor air filtration systems to improve air quality and prevent student sickness.

The University of Connecticut conducted a PBSL experience where approximately 400 first-year engineering students designed and built Corsi-Rosenthal (C-R) boxes (DIY Air Purifiers) that trap 56-91 % of respiratory aerosols and improve indoor air quality. The C-R boxes were built for a nominal cost of $60 per box, using a 20” box fan, four 20”x20”x2” MERV-13 filters, the box from the fan, and duct tape. The project was carried out by small groups (3-4 students) working in the First-Year Design Laboratory over four weeks. At the end of the project, the C-R boxes were distributed to the local elementary schools.

During the pandemic, these first-year engineering students had completed their final year in high school remotely, under lockdown. Thus, this C-R box project had a meaningful and personal impact since students could relate to their experiences during the pandemic and were motivated to build the DIY filtration system to positively impact the lives of school-going children. In addition to building the C-R boxes, students also plot graphs to show the effectiveness of the boxes in removing particle number concentration. They measured the noise levels and vibration for different fan speeds of these box filters to ensure the fans were not too loud during teaching sessions. Each week students submitted engineering logs of their building process. Students were also asked to reflect upon their design and testing methods and develop efficient design improvements. Students also highlighted their learning experiences through this project in their Engineering Portfolios at the end of the course.
This activity provides insight into how PBSLs shape first-year engineering students' identities, morals, attitudes, and learning experiences. These efforts prove how such a meaningful project may promote student motivation and understanding on multiple cognitive levels.