Hands on project experience in a core class focused on sustainability

Research output: Contribution to book or proceedingConference articlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper seeks to present the findings of an effort to teach sustainability through involving students in hands on projects. The findings have been spread out over three semesters. The course under consideration is part of the core curriculum and is open to students from any major across the university. It is offered by the department of mechanical engineering at a university in the southeast United States. It emphasizes aspects related to global sustainability. The course focuses on shedding light on sustainability related issues such as environmental pollution, resource utilization, and economics of sustainability. It resorts to innovative design practices as well as novel product ideas as a tool to enhance sustainability. To this end, the course emphasizes hands on learning through design, development and analysis of products from the point of view of sustainability. Students from all majors across the university typically take this class. They are encouraged to think about a problem critically and approach it from the design perspective in order to try and solve the underlying environmental problem. A physical product prototype is required as part of the final project. In view of the fact that sustainability is comprised of three main pillars namely: environmental, social and economic, students are also required to examine the profitability of their project on a rudimentary level. Students are free to work either individually or as part of a group. Class presentations are due at the end of each semester and are comprised of a design prototype, economic analysis and the environmental relevance of their design solutions. An evaluation rubric is used to grade the final projects in terms of innovativeness, environmental impact and economic justification. To this end, the paper presents examples of a range of student projects.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2015 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference
Subtitle of host publicationLaunching a New Vision in Engineering Education, FIE 2015 - Proceedings
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9781479984534
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2 2015
Event2015 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, FIE 2015 - El Paso, United States
Duration: Oct 21 2015Oct 24 2015

Publication series

NameProceedings - Frontiers in Education Conference, FIE
Volume2015
ISSN (Print)1539-4565

Conference

Conference2015 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, FIE 2015
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityEl Paso
Period10/21/1510/24/15

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Software
  • Education
  • Computer Science Applications

Keywords

  • core curriculum
  • project
  • Sustainability
  • three pillars of sustainability

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Hands on project experience in a core class focused on sustainability'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this