2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Engineering educators have long been familiar with Bloom's Taxonomy and the educational benefits from scaffolding learning objectives and activities to grow students’ confidence with course content. At the same time, increasing numbers of students miss the connections between courses; their previous educational experiences often resulted in siloed information and a sense that one course has no bearing on any other. The proposed application of the Classical Model of education explicitly encourages knowledge persistence by robustly connecting Bloom's concepts of increasing mastery with scaffolded content between courses. For all disciplines, the engineering curriculum frequently reflects the Classical Model stages of Grammar, Dialectic and Rhetoric. Students start with the fundamental building blocks of math and science (Grammar), use those tools to compare systems in engineering mechanics courses (Dialectic), and then finally use that knowledge to develop new systems in design courses (Rhetoric). The use of Classical Model course maps in multiple courses provides context and continuity for engineering students as they move through the curriculum. Particularly in introductory courses, sub-discipline Classical Model course maps for civil engineering demonstrate how the calculus and science courses are the "engineering" courses in the first year; students are encouraged to master mathematics to support future engineering courses. Likewise, students in engineering mechanics courses are encouraged to master current concepts and remember them for use in follow-on design courses. Students need mastery of course content to fulfill engineering's mission of using math and science to support human flourishing, meet societal needs, and contribute to the public good. Anecdotally, the proposed Classical Model course maps for Civil Engineering encourage students to aim for this very goal.