Case Studies Can Fill a Critical Need in Environmental Engineering Education

Case studies are pedagogic tools that impart learning experiences through simulated problem-solving and discussion-provoking exercises that describe “real-world” situations. Edwin F. Gay, the first dean of Harvard Business School (HBS), is credited with adapting the case method of instruction in his college as early as 1911 (Harvard Business School 2005). HBS published its first case study in 1921, and today, the college develops approximately 350 cases each year and sells 6,000,000 cases for use in business courses across the world. Although case studies have clearly evolved into powerful and critical components of professional programs in business, medical, law, and military schools, they remain less utilized in modern engineering education.

Incorporating the case method throughout a professional curriculum exposes students to a variety of practical situations applicable to their field of study. For example, a typical business student studies up to 500 cases in an MBA program. Case studies provide insights into the approach used by practicing professionals to resolve real-world issues and have a tendency to empower young graduates with a sense of déjà vu when they encounter similar situations in the real-world. Such simulated experiential learning is a major component of most professional programs and can fill a critical need in the education of today’s environmental engineers.

Case studies are not merely a professor’s stories. They utilize synthesis of knowledge and applied problem solving to illustrate how engineering works in a societal context, and they can serve as highly effective learning tools for preparing a modern environmental engineering workforce. An engineering case program was initiated at Stanford University in 1964 with help from the National Science Foundation and was later adopted by the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE). Today, the program continues under the umbrella of ASEE and houses an Engineering Case Library jointly maintained by the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and Carleton University (ECL 2005).

Perhaps due to its large scope, this resource remains regretfully underutilized by environmental engineering faculty. The Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) has recently circulated a call for case studies and proposed compiling environmental engineering cases for instructional use by engineering educators. If successful, this effort by AEESP may be a modest establishment of a resource analogous to HBS’s library of business case studies.

Kardos and Smith (1979) described an engineering case as the narration of a “series of events, which reflects an engineering activity as it happened, warts and all.” Although cases are best developed by practitioners, educators may use their consulting experiences to prepare such narratives. Cases can be simple, requiring a portion of a class period to discuss, or elaborate, requiring dozens of pages of reading and several class periods of study. The average time to develop a case may range from 1 to $4\text{months}$ . Design and construction experiences can be written into effective case studies. A variety of narrative styles are possible, but all case studies developed for instructional purposes should describe the background of the original problem and its major constraints. The process of collecting information to develop the design should be included. Where several major alternatives are available, the process and criteria used for ranking alternative solutions should be explained. Engineering calculations should have sufficient detail to allow students to understand the principles and the computational process. Information on construction, start up, and operational challenges should be included.

In some cases, photographs of the operational process can be used to illustrate the size and arrangement of the engineering equipment. It is also instructive to provide students with the opportunity to review real-world project reports and study the relevant documentation prepared by a project team. Restrictions on distribution of proprietary information may need to be addressed; however, many environmental projects have regulatory requirements, and the information is expected to be available to the public.

Because many modern environmental engineers work with a variety of other professionals as members of interdisciplinary teams, case studies should include information on the project team and describe the contributions of each member to the project. In the case of a local project, arranging a classroom visit by a member of the project team would allow students the opportunity to ask questions about the engineering process and the teaming that was important for the project.

To help with adoption in a course, a case study narrative should include a clear description of the learning objectives of the exercise, the accommodating courses and levels (freshmen, sophomore, junior, senior, graduate), prerequisite courses, type of activity (individual, small group, large group), level of effort by students and instructor, and suggested assessment methods to evaluate learning effectiveness.