Education for Chemical Engineers最新文献

Computational elements in thermodynamics have become increasingly important in contemporary chemical-engineering research and practice. However, traditional thermodynamics instruction provides little exposure to computational thermodynamics, leaving students ill-equipped to engage with the state-of-the-art deployed in industry and academia. The recent rise of easy-to-use open-source thermodynamic codes presents an opportunity for educators to help bridge this gap. In this work, we present a short course that was developed and rolled-out using the Clapeyron.jl package, the material of which is all openly available on GitHub. The course can serve as a foundation for others to similarly integrate computational material in thermodynamics education. The course is structured into three sections. Section one serves as a refresher and covers core material in numerical methods and thermodynamics. Section two introduces a range of thermodynamic models such as activity-coefficient models and cubic equations of state, outlining their implementation. In section three the focus is moved to deployment, guiding students on how to implement computational-thermodynamics methods covering volume solvers, saturation solvers, chemical-stability analysis and flash problems. In a pilot study conducted with both undergraduate and graduate students, participants found the material engaging and highly relevant to their chemical-engineering education.

Augmented reality (AR) technology has emerged as a highly beneficial tool in the educational context, and its potential impact on chemical engineering teaching is notable. This study addresses AR as an accessible and effective alternative for representing complex concepts and safely visualizing industrial processes in the area. By incorporating immersive resources, AR provides an innovative means of teaching and promotes greater engagement among students, contributing to improved learning and the development of interpersonal, investigation, and autonomy skills. This study systematically reviews the literature on the application of augmented reality in chemical engineering. Twenty-two articles in the Scopus and Web of Science databases were chosen, and a bibliometric analysis was used to extract the data in the discussions. The results highlighted the success of AR applications, predominantly employed in disciplines such as molecular chemistry, unit operations, transport phenomena, and practical chemistry. Mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, were the most common means of implementing these applications. The positive perception of students and teachers was evident, with both agreeing that the integration of AR contributed significantly to improving learning and facilitated the understanding of more challenging concepts. As a result of this research, a framework was developed that outlines the steps necessary to develop AR applications to teach chemical engineering effectively. This framework can serve as a valuable guide for future initiatives in this field, providing a solid framework for creating and successfully implementing AR-based educational resources.

Herein we developed an education game based on a spreadsheet- activity and virtual reality (VR) for teaching the fundamentals of gasification and combustion. The game could be used as a valuable resource to motivate students at the undergraduate and senior high school level to consider economic and environmental assessment including sustainability concerns as they design a hypothetical chemical product or process. The proposed game is intended to be incorporated into any sustainability course design or chemical engineering course. The game is suitable for both chemistry majors and non-chemistry majors as it introduces fundamental energy changes in chemical reactions and design principles. Additionally, the game can be adapted for high school outreach activities. The game is freely available and encourages students to think critically while considering several factors in making key industrial decisions about a product or process. Factors considered include the water availability, socioeconomic impact, environmental impact, and proximity of technological location to infrastructures. The game is designed to raise awareness about hydrogen as an energy carrier, including its economic aspects and its wide range of industrial applications. It could also be used as a means of recruiting students into chemical sciences and engineering degree programs.

This paper investigates the role of learning pathway design in a web-based 360° virtual laboratory safety training. A linearly structured virtual laboratory safety training was designed and implemented. Student experiences with the linear learning pathway were compared with a previously implemented non-linear learning pathway. In the linear pathway, students complete the virtual laboratory tour in a predetermined order, while in a non-linear pathway the students can complete the virtual laboratory tour in any order. Student feedback was collected from over 900 students and the experiences from the linearly structured virtual laboratory were highly positive. Compared to the previously implemented non-linear learning pathway, the student feedback related to the learning experience improved significantly. The feedback also showed a difference between preferred learning styles, highlighting the importance of choosing the learning pathway based on the intended learning outcomes and offering different types of learning materials for different learners. Overall, the findings of this study indicate that the linearly structured virtual laboratory offers an effective and motivating learning environment for laboratory safety training.

To enhance students’ interdisciplinary awareness and understanding of (i) high-pressure reactors, (ii) zeolites as catalysts and (iii) analysis of complex reactor effluents with unknown compounds, the laboratory exercises of two courses are coupled into a cross-curricular Project-Based laboratory Learning trajectory. The alkylation of anisole with 1-hexene proves to be an excellent case study for students to learn new objectives and strengthen the skills acquired in prior courses, emulating the work of expert engineers and analytical chemists. The time-efficient cross-curricular project proves effective in fostering teamwork and addressing complex engineering and analytical challenges. Student testimonials highlight the integrated project's success in providing new insights and cultivating advanced decision-making skills during experimentation. This approach also encourages future interdisciplinary collaborations between chemical engineering and analytical practice classes.

Effective and quality academic feedback is essential for student success in engineering education. However, chemical engineering students consistently report lower satisfaction with the feedback they receive based on the results of the UK National Student Survey (NSS) published in recent years. Despite this, there is limited research on students' perceptions of feedback in chemical engineering education. This study investigates the views of chemical engineering students on four key dimensions: knowledge and understanding of feedback, perceptions of effective and quality feedback, preferences for the modes and format of feedback, and experience with the feedback received. To draw meaningful and useful conclusions, this investigation was conducted on a small scale targeting 37 participants from undergraduate (UG) students in years one to four of the Chemical Engineering programmes at the University of Sheffield. The findings confirm that most of the UG students who participated in the study demanded to receive targeted and personalised feedback. Students considered that feedback on how to improve skills, identify mistakes and give specific examples to solve problems were more effective than a simply stated grade. The focused approach in this study allowed for an in-depth analysis of the perceptions of feedback among targeted UG students, leading to an improved definition of feedback for engineering education. It is proposed that feedback can be characterised as the process of communicating the learner's current and expected accomplishments, pointing out areas for improvement, and suggesting possible steps to address them while also requiring the learner to engage with and reflect on the provided comments.

Problem-solving ability is one of the most important skills of Chemical engineers. This case study aims to describe how students develop problem-solving ability in interdisciplinary project-based learning activity. 7 groups of middle school students participate in a one-month “home-made oxygenators” project, designing and producing oxygenators that meet the situational requirements by themselves, and showcase their production. Project task handouts, chat logs, student presentations, student works, contribution surveys, standardized tests, and interest questionnaire are the data sources of this study. The results show that the vast majority of student groups creatively use different principles to produce oxygenators with different functions, in which students clarify and identify problems progressively, create solutions by applying multidisciplinary knowledge, select the best solution through group argumentation, and optimize the solution in practice continuously, so that they develop the problem-solving ability throughout the whole process. Moreover, participants in the activity show more remarkable improvement in their academic performance and interest in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering compared to non-participants.

We describe the implementation of Critical Thinking Activities (CTA) designed to encourage ‘critical thinking’ in an undergraduate engineering Fluid Mechanics course. Critical thinking can be a vague term both difficult to grasp and even more so to measure. Using a longitudinal case study we analyse quantitative and qualitative data collected over three years to explore the overarching question: “how do we know students have thought critically?”. We investigate and evaluate the quantitative data that emerged from students undertaking the CTA and the impact of this on their performance. The results indicate that students who performed well in the CTA achieved a final grade for the course of 5 or more (Credit, Distinction or High Distinction). Qualitative data from student feedback demonstrated that the CTA was a significant factor in reinforcing student learning, enabling us to identify areas of misconception and areas in which they could improve. While the study is situated in an engineering context at the University of Queensland, the paper is an exemplar of embedded and sustainable practice, is equally transferable to other disciplinary contexts.