2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

To encourage autonomy, improve motivation, foster inclusion, and spark curiosity, the Engineering Museum Exhibit (EME) classroom project was developed for use in a junior-level civil engineering course. The EME provides a creative way for students to make connections and create value across course content, while learning science communication in a unique way. The junior-level course has traditionally focused on real-world examples, labs, and lecture content. Adding the EME allows for student autonomy, which boosts motivation, thus leading to better competence of course content. With this autonomy, students can create their own connections to real-world applications of course content. Research shows that a focus on autonomy in course projects engages students, specifically their curiosity and motivation. Furthermore, autonomy enhances inclusion in the classroom, as students can explore topics of interest while creating content in ways personally meaningful to them. In addition to the emphasis on autonomy and inclusion, the creation of museum exhibits promotes science communication in new ways for students, which leads to enhanced value creation. Within the class project, students must create EMEs for a general audience, with a live showcase featuring interdisciplinary judges from across campus. This work will highlight the creation, execution, and student perceptions of the EME, and detail rubric development for the EME. This work is part of an Engineering Unleashed Fellowship through the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network (KEEN), with a research focus on project development and inclusivity.