A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Using Kolb’s Learning Cycle to Improve Student Sustainability Knowledge
Engineers are increasingly called upon to develop and implement innovative solutions that serve a growing population, while simultaneously exploiting fewer resources and minimizing environmental impacts. As such, improvements in undergraduate curricula are needed to train students to operate under a sustainable development paradigm. A learning-cycle-based sustainability module was adapted and implemented in a cornerstone design course within a civil engineering program at a large, research-intensive institution in the United States. One cornerstone cohort participated in a peer-lecture version of the module, while the second cohort participated in a peer-discussion version. Concept maps, scored using three different methods, were used to measure changes in students’ sustainability knowledge. A self-report survey was used to measure changes in students’ perceptions of their sustainability knowledge and skills. Students in both the peer-lecture and peer-discussion cohorts demonstrated improved sustainability knowledge networks and confidences after participation in the module. However, peer-lecture students showed greater improvements in knowledge connectedness (a feature of expert-like knowledge) than peer-discussion students. Regardless of cohort, cornerstone students demonstrated greater gains in knowledge and confidence than did a cohort of capstone students who participated in an earlier implementation of the module. Future implementations may be most impactful if the peer-discussion format is integrated into early design courses.
Using Kolb’s Learning Cycle to Improve Student Sustainability Knowledge
Engineers are increasingly called upon to develop and implement innovative solutions that serve a growing population, while simultaneously exploiting fewer resources and minimizing environmental impacts. As such, improvements in undergraduate curricula are needed to train students to operate under a sustainable development paradigm. A learning-cycle-based sustainability module was adapted and implemented in a cornerstone design course within a civil engineering program at a large, research-intensive institution in the United States. One cornerstone cohort participated in a peer-lecture version of the module, while the second cohort participated in a peer-discussion version. Concept maps, scored using three different methods, were used to measure changes in students’ sustainability knowledge. A self-report survey was used to measure changes in students’ perceptions of their sustainability knowledge and skills. Students in both the peer-lecture and peer-discussion cohorts demonstrated improved sustainability knowledge networks and confidences after participation in the module. However, peer-lecture students showed greater improvements in knowledge connectedness (a feature of expert-like knowledge) than peer-discussion students. Regardless of cohort, cornerstone students demonstrated greater gains in knowledge and confidence than did a cohort of capstone students who participated in an earlier implementation of the module. Future implementations may be most impactful if the peer-discussion format is integrated into early design courses.
Using Kolb’s Learning Cycle to Improve Student Sustainability Knowledge
Mary Katherine Watson (author) / Joshua Pelkey (author) / Caroline Noyes (author) / Michael O. Rodgers (author)
2019
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
Unknown
Metadata by DOAJ is licensed under CC BY-SA 1.0
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