2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Open-inquiry in the laboratory: a case study of a scenario-based pipe flow activity

Presented at ELOS Technical Session 2: Innovative Strategies for Fostering Deeper Learning in Engineering Laboratories

Laboratory activities are an essential part of an undergraduate engineering education. One of the challenges in effective use of the laboratory is to provide an engaging experience. This paper contributes a much needed case study of an `open-inquiry' activity. The activity focussed on pipe flow, and used a scenario-based design to foster deeper inquiry and greater engagement.

We evaluated the activity after seven years of implementation in cohorts of 165-200 students. Qualitative evaluation of student outputs showed a significant improvement. Quantitative analysis of the student experience, via a survey covering nine dimensions of the experience and five different laboratory activities, showed that the activity in question was successful. Qualitative comments from students and teachers give further insight into how the activity succeeded.

By presenting a best-practice case study, accompanied by full teaching materials in an open repository, we show that concrete changes in the student experience and their outputs are possible by changing the following: the way teaching assistants work, expectations for behavior in the laboratory, and written materials.

Authors

Dr. Peter B Johnson http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7841-691X Imperial College London [biography]

Peter is a Principal Teaching Fellow (permanent academic staff with an education focused remit) in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Imperial College London. He teaches a fluid mechanics module to undergraduate students. He is also responsible for laboratory based learning, and plays a lead role in teaching administration within the department. Additionally, Peter has a remit to innovate in educational methods, with two main focuses: discovery based learning, including developing laboratory equipment and demonstrations; and software development to support self-study.

Peter has been at Imperial College since 2018, before which he worked in the Oil and Gas industry as a Research Scientist and as a Field Engineer at Schlumberger. Prior to that he was Assistant Professor at Nazarbayev University. Peter has a Ph.D. in Fluid Dynamics from University College, London (UCL); a Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from UCL and Columbia University, New York; and a Master's Degree in Education from Imperial College London.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

« View session