2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Impacts of Inquiry-Based Learning on Chemical Engineering Undergraduates

Presented at Hands-On Learning & Undergraduate Research

This research paper investigates the continued impacts of incorporating inquiry-based laboratory experiences into core chemical engineering courses on undergraduate students at a research-intensive university in the Northeast United States. Traditional chemical engineering curricula often begin by engaging students in instructor-centered, lecture-based courses to introduce the theory behind real-world processes, reserving the application of this theoretical knowledge for the canonical upper-level Unit Operations (UO) laboratory course. However, existing literature and our prior work suggest that redesigning the chemical engineering curriculum to allow students to learn theory and immediately apply it to real-world equipment through hands-on laboratory exercises benefits student motivation and knowledge retention. To achieve this goal, we are currently reconfiguring the existing Unit Operations course into self-contained experimental “inquiry labs” and integrating these inquiry-based labs into aligned courses in the Sophomore and Junior years of the curriculum. At this point, we have incorporated 10 inquiry labs into the core chemical engineering curriculum. To assess the longitudinal impact of these labs, we employed a concurrent mixed-methods study (IRB0148897) by implementing surveys after each lab to gather lab-specific feedback and conducting interviews with students at the end of each semester. Specifically, we present our findings on the positive impact of these labs on student learning, motivation, and an intelligence mindset. Future work will continue to assess the impact of continued participation in inquiry labs on students’ beliefs through a longitudinal study. By understanding the effect of active learning implementation on students in this school, we can better understand the potential for curriculum redesign at other institutions and across all engineering disciplines.

Authors

Dr. Francis Ledesma http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6280-1394 Cornell University [biography]

Dr. Francis Ledesma is a Postdoctoral Associate in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University. His research focuses on incorporating active learning into the traditional core chemical engineering curriculum and studying the resulting effects on both students and faculty. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and his B.S. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from Cornell University.
Cara Robertus http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6230-1509 Cornell University
Prof. Allison Godwin http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0741-3356 Cornell University [biography]

Allison Godwin, Ph.D. is the Dr. G. Stephen Irwin '67, '68 Professor in Engineering Education Research in the Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Cornell University. She is also the Associate Director of the Cornell NanoScale Science and Technology Facility and a McCormick Teaching Excellence Institute Research Fellow. Her research focuses on how identity, among other affective factors, influences diverse groups of students to choose engineering and persist in engineering. She also studies how different experiences within the practice and culture of engineering foster or hinder belonging, motivation, and identity development. Dr. Godwin graduated from Clemson University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D. in Engineering and Science Education. Her research earned her a National Science Foundation CAREER Award focused on characterizing latent diversity, which includes diverse attitudes, mindsets, and approaches to learning to understand engineering students’ identity development. She has won several awards for her research including the 2021 Chemical Engineering Education William H. Corcoran Award, 2022 American Educational Research Association Education in the Professions (Division I) 2021-2022 Outstanding Research Publication Award, and the 2023 AIChE Excellence in Engineering Education Research Award.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

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