Introducing Engineering Judgment through Active Learning
Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 144, Issue 4
Abstract
The development and implementation of an active learning assignment to develop students’ engineering judgment or their ability to apply common sense and proportion to slope stability is outlined. The assignment was developed because students often struggle to ascertain whether a calculated factor of safety is realistic. After completing the various training sets forming the assignment, students were able to judge the stability of slopes to a similar degree of proficiency as practicing engineers. A key aspect of the training sets was presenting problem sets in an increasingly random order. Formal lecturing, on the other hand, had no influence on students’ engineering judgment abilities. As expected, overconfidence was shown by students who performed poorly.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The author is grateful to both Jani MacRobert and Professor Chris James (University of the Witwatersrand) for their valuable comments on the manuscript.
References
Baumeister, M., and J. Starke. 2002. “Improving student confidence through metacognitive learning.” J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract. 128 (4): 145–148. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1052-3928(2002)128:4(145).
Bishop, A. W. 1955. “The use of the slip circle in the stability analysis of slopes.” Géotechnique 5 (1): 7–17. https://doi.org/10.1680/geot.1955.5.1.7.
Brown, P. C., H. L. Roediger, and M. A. McDaniel. 2014. Make it stick. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Cokca, E. 2008. “Geotechnical engineering education in METU and computer aided learning.” In Proc., Education and Training in Geo-Engineering Sciences, 369–374. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Davison, L. R. 1996. “GeotechniCAL-computer assisted learning in geotechnical engineering.” In Proc., 7th Australia—New Zealand Conf. on Geomechanics, 957–963. Barton, Australia: Australian Institution of Engineers.
Felder, R. M., and R. Brent. 2016. Teaching and learning STEM. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Fischhoff, B. 1982. “Debiasing.” In Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases, edited by D. Kahneman, P. Slovic, and A. Tversky, 422–444. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Freeman, S., S. L. Eddy, M. McDonough, M. K. Smith, N. Okoroafor, H. Jordt, and M. P. Wenderoth. 2014. “Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics.” Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 111 (23): 8410–8415. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111.
Fung, H. T., and J. N. Kay. 1994. “An interactive computer model for triaxial test simulation.” In Proc., Int. Conf. on Computer Methods in Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, 429–435. Hong Kong: Dept. of Civil and Structural Engineering, Univ. of Hong Kong.
Hanson, W. E. 1984. “The life and achievements of Ralph B. Peck.” In Judgement in geotechnical engineering: The professional legacy of Ralph B. Peck, edited by J. Dunnicliff and D. U. Deere, 3–12. New York: Wiley-Interscience.
Jaksa, M. B., W. S. Kaggwa, and S. K. Gamble. 1996. “CATIGE for windows—A computer aided teaching suite for geotechnical engineering.” In Proc., 7th Australia—New Zealand Conf. on Geomechanics, 976–980. Barton, Australia: Australian Institution of Engineers.
Kim, J. H., and G. J. Rix. 2007. “Simulation of geotechnical site investigation in a teaching environment.” In Proc., Educational activities in Geotechnical Engineering. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Kruger, J., and D. Dunning. 1999. “Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one’s own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments.” J. Personality Social Psychol. 77 (6): 1121–1134. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.77.6.1121.
Ledesma, A., and P. C. Prat. 2008. “Using ICT in geo-engineering education: The case of UPC at Barcelona, Spain.” In Proc., Education and Training in Geo-Engineering Sciences, 369–374. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Lichtenstein, S., B. Fischhoff, and L. Philips. 1982. “Calibration of probabilities: The state of the art to 1980.” In Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases, edited by D. Kahneman, P. Slovic, and A. Tversky, 306–334. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
MacRobert, C. J. 2016. “Social geotechnics.” Civ. Eng. 24 (3): 68–71.
MacRobert, C. J. 2017. “Are you smarter than a student?” Civ. Eng. 25 (3): 81–85.
Peck, R. B., and H. O. Ireland. 1974. “Experience in teaching engineering judgement by case histories in foundation engineering.” In Proc., ASCE Conf. on Civil Engineering Education, 187–192. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Penumadu, D., D. Frost, and R. Zhao. 1997. “Geotechnical test simulator.” In Proc., 14th Int. Conf. on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, 2019–2022. Rotterdam, Netherlands: A.A. Balkema.
Prince, M. 2004. “Does active learning work? A review of the research.” J. Eng. Educ. 93 (3): 223–231. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2004.tb00809.
Rohrer, D., and K. Taylor. 2007. “The shuffling of mathematics problems improves learning.” Instruct. Sci. 35 (6): 481–498. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-007-9015-8.
Silverthorn, D. 2006. “Teaching and learning in the interactive classroom.” Adv. Physiol. Educ. 30 (4): 135–140. https://doi.org/10.1152/advan.00087.2006.
Thimus, J.-F., and E.-M. Faure. 2008. “DIDACTU and DIDACPENTE, e-learning tools for underground works and slope stability.” In Proc., Education and Training in Geo-Engineering Sciences, 369–374. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
USACE (US Army Corps of Engineers). 2003. Slope stability. Washington, DC: Dept. of the Army.
Vick, S. G. 2002. Degrees of belief: Subjective probability and engineering judgment. Reston, VA: ASCE.
Wirth, X., N. J. Jiang, T. da Silva, G. D. Vecchia, J. Evans, E. Romero, and S. K. Bhatia. 2017. “Undergraduate geotechnical engineering education of the 21st century.” Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract. 143 (3): 02516002. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EI.1943-5541.0000317.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 144 • Issue 4 • October 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 8, 2017
Accepted: Mar 1, 2018
Published online: Jun 9, 2018
Published in print: Oct 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Nov 9, 2018
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.