Education for Chemical Engineers最新文献

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.

The advantages of using elements of games in educational contexts have been reported in literature since the times of Plato in ancient Greece. Modern studies credited games with some advantages in education from different angles (behavioural, motivational or cognitive). In this paper, the application of games that have an explicit and carefully thought-out educational purpose (serious games) in different chemical engineering subjects at the bachelor and master level is discussed. Firstly, some topic definitions are provided along with a historical perspective of the use of games in education and the theoretical foundations supporting it. In section 2, four different applications of games are presented in three different subjects. In particular, the use of board games for the subjects Process Control and Particle Technology is illustrated, and how the combination of simple games (e.g. crosswords) and escape room activities can help to develop both low level and high level skills (following the Bloom’s taxonomy classification) in Optimisation of Chemical Processes is also presented. Their analysis and discussion of the impacts achieved with the different game-based activities are later presented in section 3 along with the main conclussions drawn.

Our students belong to a highly digitised generation with easy and rapid access to information. They are dependent on technology and tend to become bored quickly. There is an ongoing debate regarding the need to reconsider our teaching methods in order to capture the attention of our students. This study surveyed both students and teachers on the subject of online teaching and its impact on university education. Additionally, it explored issues related to integrating interactive applications in education. These applications are considered essential tools in combating student boredom and disinterest. They also enable teachers to receive valuable feedback, which was highlighted as critically important by educators in the survey.

In this context, we conducted a study within a chemical engineering program at a Spanish university. We examined the use of four different interactive applications (Kahoot!, Wooclap, Classflow, Moodle) and compared the results with those from previous years when only one of these applications was employed. This study aimed to determine how using multiple applications led to increased student participation, driven by avoiding monotony, resulting in improved academic performance.

A set of hands-on activities, that were proposed in an introduction course to machine learning in a Chemical Engineering undergraduate course, are presented. The activities aimed to introduce basic concepts of unsupervised learning (e.g., clustering) and supervised learning (e.g., classification and regression). Google Colaboratory, a cloud service provided by Google for free to promote research in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, was used to develop these activities, but the proposed activities can be run similarly in a local Python environment. The datasets used in the activities are publicly available on websites such as Kaggle and University of California (UCI), and a specific example in chemical engineering for the ore grinding process was also used. The student's response to the ML topic within the course was very positive.

The last 20 years has seen rapid expansion of sustainable energy deployment in the European Union (EU) and the United States (U.S.) that is driving the demand for trained professionals. An engineering degree with coursework in sustainable energy systems is a desirable initial qualification. However, engineering students should also appreciate the societal and environmental impacts of the sustainable energy transition. Furthermore, since the sustainable energy transition is a global endeavor, an international perspective is needed. The sustainable energy engineering course described in this paper taught students the scientific and engineering principles underlying the major types of emerging sustainable energy technologies from a chemical engineering perspective. The technical content served as context for comparing renewable energy deployment in the EU country of Austria with the U.S. The broader impacts (societal and environmental) of renewable energy deployment were then illustrated through student presentations. Survey results showed that students gained understanding of the engineering fundamentals underlying these renewable energy systems and challenges of their deployment in Austria and the U.S. Therefore, a unique outcome of this course was that students gained an international perspective on the expansion of sustainable energy systems needed to secure a low-carbon energy future.

Promoting new teaching methodologies is essential to improve the participation, motivation, interest, and results of students in all educational stages. In this sense, flipped classroom and problem-based learning have emerged in the last years as fascinating options to be implemented in high education levels thanks to the students’ maturity and previously acquired background. Working with motivating case studies based on real processes with their restrictions appears as an opportunity to bring future professionals closer to the industrial problems; this will capacitate engineers to solve and understand complex procedures getting tangible results. In this context, the main goal of this work is to combine flipped classroom and problem-based learning methodologies to gain the interest of students of a Master course in Industrial Engineering in the subject of Chemical Processes using real data of local companies. A survey, designed by the academics involved, will help collecting the opinion of students as well as the acquired skills in the frame of the specific subject. Results demonstrated the satisfaction of the students with the course, highlighting mainly the acquisition or improvement of self-learning skills (survey 4.0/5.0), capacity for organization and planning (survey 4.0/5.0), analytical ability (survey 4.2/5.0), and teamwork (survey 4.3/5.0). In addition, the grades accomplished during the year of implementation show that although the success rate is quite similar to preceding years, the marks achieved are considerably higher.

Instructors teaching chemical engineering topics have traditionally used graphical methods to explain core concepts and design unit operations. However, with the shift towards online and blended/flexible learning, there is a need to adapt these graphical methods for online use. This paper presents a set of interactive graphs that can be used for fluid flow, separation process, and reaction process unit operations and aims to investigate students' opinions of the interactive graphs and their motivations for using them in their studies. The digital resource developed in the paper is a set of slim single-page applications written in HTML5 & CSS3 with the numerical calculations undertaken in JavaScript (JS). The interactive graphs are embedded into the virtual learning environment (VLE) system Blackboard for two courses, and a paper survey is used to measure students' perceptions towards the interactive graphs and their use of them. The UTAUT2 model is used to analyse the student use of these resources. It is demonstrated that the use of online interactive graphs is popular with the students and the main driving factors are the performance expectancy and the hedonic motivation. Short scaffold questions to help students interact with the graphs are key to their usefulness. Some guidance on the use of interactive graphs is also provided. The interactive graphical resource can be found and used at the Graphical Chemical Engineering Design weblink: https://www.ce.manchester.ac.uk/gced.

A compact and cost-effective heat exchanger kit was successfully designed, built, and implemented in an undergraduate pharmaceutical engineering course on heat and mass transfer. The kit consists of a control box (dimensions: 160 mm x 180 mm x 98 mm) and a plate heat exchanger measuring 120 mm x 180 mm, along with various accessories. By utilizing affordable electronics and mechanical components, we were able to create 25 kits (cost: ∼USD$320/kit) that facilitate immersive hands-on learning experiences. In this study, the heat exchanger kit was incorporated into laboratory sessions. After the end of the sessions, a student survey was administered to gather feedback from all 71 participants. Students’ perceptions towards the kit in aiding their understanding of heat transfer principles was assessed. The survey results clearly indicated that the practical engagement with the heat exchanger kit had a positive influence on the students' comprehension and visualization of how heat exchanger systems work. Students recognized its representation of an industrial heat exchanger operation and its efficacy in enhancing their understanding and visualization of heat exchangers. By considering the encouraging outcomes and the positive feedback obtained from the students, we are motivated to continue utilizing the heat exchanger kit for future cohorts.

The accreditation of engineering programmes is a subject of great interest in the last decades. However, most studies in the literature are focused on case studies or deal with the different levels of acceptance of the groups involved in the accreditation. There are two main approaches for the accreditation of engineering programmes, i.e., at national or international level. Whereas most developed countries have established national standards for the quality assurance of the university studies, international accreditation systems for engineering studies are limited to 3 alternatives. The interaction between national and international accreditation systems is poorly understood despite of their significance in the design and management of the programme. We aim to fill in this gap and provide useful guidance for universities aiming to apply for the EUR-ACE® label in their chemical engineering programmes (bachelor or master). In general, there is a high level of complementarity between the Spanish and EUR-ACE accreditation systems. However, there are still challenges. For instance, the ad hoc procedure proposed by the national accreditation agency in Spain does not fully consider chemical engineering as a traditional branch of engineering. In addition, the changes in the Spanish accreditation system might negatively impact the current ad hoc procedure for EUR-ACE accreditation for some universities. The incorporation of IChemE in the accreditation process would be an option to deal with this issue.