Hands-on Introduction to Chemical and Biological Engineering

Montana State University, Bozeman MT

Investigators

Abstract

Discipline: Chemical Engineering (53) The freshman seminar course has been revised by modeling it after Rowan University's exemplary Freshman Engineering Clinic course that utilizes a hands-on laboratory approach to introduce freshman students to engineering. Innovative laboratory modules developed and published by faculty at Rowan under NSF funding have been adapted and implemented. These laboratories utilize common activities (such as brewing coffee, taking blood pressure, and delivery of medication) to teach fundamental engineering principles, techniques for experimental measurement, data representation and analysis, and group problem solving and communication skills. Many of these laboratories are designed to build upon the student's current base of knowledge and experience. A unique aspect of this laboratory based course is that many concepts are taught in an inductive learning format. Students are asked to predict experimental outcomes, perform the experiments, plot and analyze the data, and compare results to their predictions. All this occurs prior to exposing the student to the underlying theory and predictive calculations. By presenting concepts in this manner, the students personalize the learning thereby leading to improved mastery, retention, and transferability of fundamental principles to other situations.