Abstract
Civil engineers are poised to impact sustainable development. Consequently, there is a need for curricular materials to scaffold students in developing sustainable design skills. Previously, a sustainability module, based on Kolb’s learning cycle, was integrated into a civil engineering capstone course in the United States. The purpose of this study was to analyze the extent to which students engaging in the module (intervention cohort) were able to improve their sustainable design skills, as compared to a group of capstone students not participating in the module (control cohort). A Sustainable Design Rubric was used to assess students’ sustainable design performance, as captured in capstone reports. In addition, students reflected on their confidence related to several sustainable design competencies via a survey. Based on an evaluation of capstone design reports, improvement in the intervention teams’ consideration of sustainable design criteria was somewhat limited, as they more extensively addressed only 2 of the 16 sustainable design criteria compared to control teams. Intervention students reported improved confidence in more sustainable design competencies than control students (10 of 12 for intervention students; 1 of 12 for control students). For future implementations, clearer and more extensive sustainable design expectations need to be set by instructors and project sponsors to increase the execution of sustainable design and close the gap between students’ perceptions of improved skills and teams’ actual application of sustainable design criteria.
Highlights
The goal of the current study is to examine the impact of the learning-cycle-based sustainability module on students’ sustainable design skills
Civil and environmental engineering students enrolled in a capstone design course participated in the study, with one cohort completing module activities and another cohort only completing the traditional course
The following conclusions were made based on the results: 1. Based on evaluation of capstone design reports, improvement in intervention teams’ consideration of sustainable design criteria was somewhat limited, as they more extensively addressed only 2 of 16 sustainable design compared to control teams; 2
Summary
The purpose of this study was to analyze the extent to which students engaging in the module were able to improve their sustainable design skills, as compared to a group of capstone students not participating in the module. The goal of the current study is to examine the impact of the learning-cycle-based sustainability module on students’ sustainable design skills
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