Using Kolb’s Learning Cycle to Improve Student Sustainability Knowledge

Engineers are increasingly called upon to develop and implement innovative solutions that serve a growing population, while simultaneously exploiting fewer resources and minimizing environmental impacts. As such, improvements in undergraduate curricula are needed to train students to operate under a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2019-09, Vol.11 (17), p.4602
Main Authors: Watson, Mary Katherine, Pelkey, Joshua, Noyes, Caroline, Rodgers, Michael O.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Active learning
Case studies
Civil engineering
Concept mapping
Curricula
Design
Engineering education
Experiential learning
Industrial engineering
Knowledge
Participation
Project evaluation
Students
Sustainability
Sustainable design
Sustainable development
Teaching
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Summary:Engineers are increasingly called upon to develop and implement innovative solutions that serve a growing population, while simultaneously exploiting fewer resources and minimizing environmental impacts. As such, improvements in undergraduate curricula are needed to train students to operate under a sustainable development paradigm. A learning-cycle-based sustainability module was adapted and implemented in a cornerstone design course within a civil engineering program at a large, research-intensive institution in the United States. One cornerstone cohort participated in a peer-lecture version of the module, while the second cohort participated in a peer-discussion version. Concept maps, scored using three different methods, were used to measure changes in students’ sustainability knowledge. A self-report survey was used to measure changes in students’ perceptions of their sustainability knowledge and skills. Students in both the peer-lecture and peer-discussion cohorts demonstrated improved sustainability knowledge networks and confidences after participation in the module. However, peer-lecture students showed greater improvements in knowledge connectedness (a feature of expert-like knowledge) than peer-discussion students. Regardless of cohort, cornerstone students demonstrated greater gains in knowledge and confidence than did a cohort of capstone students who participated in an earlier implementation of the module. Future implementations may be most impactful if the peer-discussion format is integrated into early design courses.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su11174602