Educational Module to Demonstrate the Seismic Behavior of Piles in Improved and Unimproved Soft Soils
Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 138, Issue 4
Abstract
This engineering educational module on the behavior of piles in soft clays during earthquake loading sought to introduce engineering as a viable career to eighth graders and teach students how geotechnical engineers design foundations in marginal soils to minimize damage to infrastructure during earthquakes. This module could also be used at various educational levels, from elementary to middle and high school, as well as at the undergraduate level, with appropriate modifications. A 5-h module was created to simulate the real-world behavior of piles in soft clays during earthquake loading and visually show the improvement in how these same piles behave after being stabilized with a deep-soil-mixing technique. In this module, soft soil was simulated using Jell-O, piles were simulated using Slim Jims, and soil stabilization was simulated using peanut butter, marshmallows, or cheese. Each student group had to design a stabilization procedure to improve the behavior of the piles. The students competed to see who could design a stabilized pile with the least amount of deflection for the least amount of money. An abbreviated module was also administered to a group of middle-school science and mathematics teachers. The students’ and teachers’ learning and perceptions were assessed by administering pre- and post-assessment questions, which were matched.
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Acknowledgments
This material is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CMMI-0830328; any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
The project team would like to thank Zachary Thompson, Hoda Soltani, Karrthik Kirupakaran, Allison Quiroga, and Charbel Khoury for their help implementing this module. The project team would also like to thank Whittier Middle School’s (Norman, Oklahoma) eighth-grade discovery science class and the teacher, Mr. Frank Barry, and student teacher, Ms. Amy Bogan, as well as Dr. Susan Walden of the University of Oklahoma’s Seed Center and the teacher participants for welcoming the authors into their classroom to present the educational module. Finally, the authors would like to thank L. Dee Fink for reviewing the paper and providing valuable comments to improve it.
This study was conducted with the approval of the University of Oklahoma’s Institutional Review Board (IRB), as well as the Norman Public School System (NPS), under project number 13213.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 138 • Issue 4 • October 2012
Pages: 274 - 282
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 16, 2011
Accepted: Jan 18, 2012
Published online: Jan 20, 2012
Published in print: Oct 1, 2012
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