Inquiry-based learning is a process in which a student poses a question, develops an experiment, collects and analyzes data, answers the question, and presents the results. The process of inquiry encourages “information processing” rather than “information scanning.” The inclusion of inquiry strengthens an engineering curriculum, as real-world science and engineering problems are, by nature, approached on an inquiry basis. Inquiry extends and complements the recently emphasized “active-learning” approach of increased class interaction. The inquiry approach was tested in an undergraduate construction materials course by revising the laboratory portion to incorporate elements of inquiry and active learning. The paper provides a background on the inquiry approach, discusses the details of developing the inquiry-based laboratory, and summarizes the outcome of this experiment. Lessons learned, including shortcomings of applying the inquiry model, are discussed along with recommendations for its application.

This paper reports on a study of the factors and interrelated decisions that influence the career dynamics of female and male construction professionals. The research involved the collection of detailed career history profiles of matched pairs of male and female informants, at different stages of their careers. These data were used to establish the disparity between men's and women's career progression and to explore the determinants of women's organizational and occupational mobility patterns. It was found that problems existed for women at every career stage, where pressures created by the demanding work environment were compounded by inflexible working arrangements and overt resentment from their male colleagues. The findings suggest that ingrained attitudes and operating practices of large U.K. construction organizations will be difficult to change to the extent that they will encourage more female participation. Nevertheless, addressing the equality issue is essential if the industry is to develop a skilled workforce in the millennium, which taps the talents of all within society.

This paper provides a road map to studies and databases about civil engineering demographics and industry involvement by tracing workforce statistics, engineering degrees, data on industries and government, and economic forecasts. It is aimed at helping civil engineering managers, educators, and policy makers understand how their workforce evolved and what it will face in the future. The engineering workforce comprises about 1.5 million professionals in the United States (second in size only to that of teachers); of this number, civil engineering, at about 200,000 workers, is third behind electrical and mechanical engineering. However, the study shows that aggregation of workforce and economic statistics hides unique characteristics of civil engineering work caused by the concentration on consulting and state and local government. In fact, over 80% of civil engineers work either for consultants or government. This characteristic of civil engineering employment needs more study, particularly to determine how best to educate civil engineers to respond to the public–private arena of infrastructure and environment. During the past century, civil engineering has been a steady field with good opportunities, but civil engineers in the future will face the same career issues and pressures as other professionals. Global production of new engineers has now passed the one million-per-year mark, with U.S. production being about 12% of the total. This large supply of engineers will present intense competition to all engineering disciplines. ASCE faces many challenges to respond to the many changes in the civil engineering profession. The concept of institutes contained in ASCE's strategic plan will address many of the technical issues, but the study indicates that professional and educational issues need more attention.

A multimedia-supported case study is presented that deals with a large-scale civil engineering project. This case study is based on the complete analysis, design, and construction files of the developer of the project. The multimedia instructional tool has integrated different disciplines and input from the project manager, senior students, and instructors of different disciplines. This multimedia tool includes hypertext links to modular and stratified information. Information is made available through the user's control in a logical, interactive, deductive, and disciplinary way that follows the flow of a civil engineering project. Text, graphics, and videos are included. The multimedia tool presents a teaching tool that enables senior class civil engineering students to learn about planning, design, and construction phases of a civil engineering project, as well as their integration. The in-class use of the tool and project discussions help the students to relate better their previous academic knowledge to “real-life” problems, enhance their creativity, and increase the level of retention of the new knowledge acquired. Future enhancements and learning possibilities are discussed with the use of additional capabilities of information technology. The multimedia application developed has been used in an academic environment; however, with some modifications, it could be used to improve the “learning curve” of new employees in a company environment.