Creation of On-Campus Living Laboratories for Improved Student Learning

Final Paper pdf 121KB

Experiential learning has been linked with increased content retention rates among students. Traditionally, many of the experiential learning activities in engineering education have occurred in laboratory settings. However, laboratory activities often lack the complexity of real-world problems that graduate engineers will face. This is particularly true in civil and environmental engineering where large projects and systems must be scaled down and simplified to evaluate in a laboratory setting. To remedy this issue and increase student exposure to complex problems, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology has begun to develop living laboratories by leveraging existing and planned facilities on campus. This paper will present the rationale behind the design of the living laboratories, descriptions of the projects that have been completed or planned, challenges associated with implementation of labs, and preliminary results of assessment related to the effectiveness of the labs as teaching tools.

Author(s):

Kyle Kershaw    
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
United States

Jennifer Mueller-Price    
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
United States

Matthew Lovell    
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
United States