2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Over the past few years, senior-level chemical engineering students in the Unit Operations laboratory at the University of Dayton have obtained unique experiences performing open-ended experiments emphasizing experiential learning theory (ELT) aspects. During the last six weeks of the semester, students conduct a final project where they define an objective and propose a methodology for a more advanced study than required in the earlier portion of the course. The authors (instructors of the course) provide (1) ideas for experimental topics of interest which are applicable to chemical engineering students, 2) focused research opportunities with faculty members or local entrepreneurs and businesses, and 3) community-based learning experiences with the ETHOS center at the University of Dayton. Once the instructor approves a student-centered experiential learning project, the students define the specific objectives, perform experiments or simulations, and summarize the analysis and findings in a final technical report or memorandum. After submitting the final report, students also provide a written reflection of their work and learning experience.
In the most recent academic semester, various open-ended topics were made available to the students, including coffee-processing-related unit operations, environmentally sustainable biodigesters, and kombucha fermentation. This paper highlights open-ended experiential learning final project opportunities (n = 6) in the Chemical Engineering Unit Operations laboratory, provided to 16 teams of 3 - 4 students per team (n = 53). We discuss the instructors' observations and perspectives and a summary of students' written reflections. The authors performed qualitative assessments using coding and thematic analysis on the students' team-written reflections. Four central student themes emerged: cognitive, affective, relational, and pedagogical. The authors also summarize their findings and provide perspectives for open-ended, experiential learning opportunities in Chemical Engineering laboratory-based courses. Overall, the qualitative analysis indicated the teams enjoyed the opportunity to select an open-ended project and the independence, autonomy, and control over the experiment stage. These results confirmed the student-centered approach in experiential learning projects for the Chemical Engineering Unit Operations laboratory previously attained in other STEM-related courses