2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Studies have shown that hands-on, problem-based learning can increase student engagement and reinforce content learned in class. However, these activities are difficult and time consuming, and instructors must make difficult decisions about which activities are the best use of the time available in any given semester. Building a better understanding of how these hands-on activities improve students’ learning of the subject matter will allow instructors to make better-informed decisions about how to value and structure major build projects in future courses.
For three years, the PI has developed an environmental engineering project to integrate technical in-class content, hands-on building experience, and teamwork. Groups of 3-5 students have 6 weeks to produce a pallet-sized water treatment plant run by gravity and built with low-cost resources that can meet a set of final water quality goals. A series of related laboratory exercises precede the project and equip the students with the knowledge necessary to analyze and design their water treatment systems. Informal feedback collected in the previous years demonstrated that students considered this project to be a source of some of their most significant learning in the course.
The purpose of the proposed study is to evaluate the impact of problem-based learning on the development of higher order cognitive skills (i.e., analysis, evaluation, synthesis) for water treatment design. This study is being conducted during the Fall 2023 semester in a junior-level Environmental Engineering class. While the project is required for all students in the course, student participation in this study is optional. Quantitative assessment tools consisting of a series of quiz questions targeting higher order cognitive skills will be conducted with study participants at two points in the course: once after concepts have been introduced only through theory in the classroom and once after the project work has been completed. Brief interview assessments with a random sampling of participants will also be administered at the end of the project in order to collect qualitative data to produce a mixed-methods study. It is anticipated that the data will indicate that students attain their lower order cognitive skills through the in-class lectures and assignments, while the practical experience of completing the project will be largely responsible for higher order cognitive gains. Additional results may also show students’ development of a greater understanding of the design process and teamwork, as well as increased interest and motivation related to the subjects of the class. The results from this study may be useful for justifying the value of undertaking such projects in an environmental engineering course through their ability to help students achieve higher order cognitive skills, as well as identifying ways that learning gains could be maximized in future variations of the project.