Incorporating a Sustainability Module into First-Year Courses for Civil and Environmental Engineering Students
Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 137, Issue 2
Abstract
As articulated in the Bodies of Knowledge for Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering, all civil and environmental engineering students should be introduced to the concept of sustainability. A sustainability module was added into two required first-year, 1-credit introductory courses, one for civil engineering and one for environmental engineering. Data from approximately 150 students were collected. Student attitudes about sustainability were evaluated using a written survey. There was greater initial knowledge of sustainability and positive attitudes toward sustainability among students enrolled in the environmental engineering course compared with those in the civil engineering course, but this did not translate into better performance on the related homework assignment. There was strong evidence that the inclusion of the sustainability module encouraged the students to consider sustainability in subsequent course assignments, even when not explicitly prompted to do so. This indicates that early emphasis of sustainability may affect the students’ concepts of its importance in civil and environmental engineering.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 137 • Issue 2 • April 2011
Pages: 78 - 85
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 15, 2010
Accepted: Aug 27, 2010
Published online: Mar 15, 2011
Published in print: Apr 1, 2011
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