From Analyzing Geotechnical Failures to Generating and Solving Crossword Puzzles: Adding Variety to a Geotechnical Engineering Course

Final Paper pdf 310KB

The civil engineering majors at our institution take the first geotechnical engineering course in their senior year. At that time, they have already been introduced to all sub-disciplines of civil engineering, except geotechnical engineering. As an instructor, it then becomes a challenge to introduce students to an unfamiliar sub-discipline, since by all likelihood; they have already decided on the field they will pursue in employment or graduate study. An effective strategy for addressing this issue is to design the course to provide various active teaching and learning strategies that engage students and focus on their different learning styles. This paper discusses how various active teaching and learning techniques focused on different learning styles were employed in a geotechnical engineering course. The paper also reports effectiveness of these techniques on student learning gains and students’ self-perception of the active learning tools.

Author(s):

Simon Ghanat    
Civil and Environmental Engineering
The Citadel
United States

Michael Woo    
Civil and Environmental Engineering
The Citadel
United States

Monika Bubacz    
Mechanical Engineering
The Citadel
United States

James Grayson    
Civil and Environmental Engineering
The Citadel
United States