Civil Engineering Education: Case Study Approach

The role of a teacher is to facilitate learning. This task is accomplished through a variety of instructional methods, the most established being the classroom lecture. Civil engineering students are taught the basics in scientific principles and theory. However, they often lack the understanding of how to apply this knowledge to solve real engineering problems in the field. Consequently, teaching methods that encourage the blending of theory into real‐life applications should be used. An appropriate instructional alternative that can accomplish this is the case study. First, this paper presents traditional teaching methods. Next, the case study approach to teaching is described along with its advantages and disadvantages. Methodology to facilitate case development and steps necessary for implementation into civil engineering education are also discussed. Additionally, the characteristics of three case studies are briefly described.