This paper presents the benefits of using an irrigation canal scale model as a main tool for introducing systems dynamics and control to postgraduate civil engineers. The canal is used as an educational resource for teaching the master course Real-Time Control of Irrigation Canals. The prime educational objective of this course is that graduate students interested in building a professional career in water management, are trained to acquire skills that are essential in the development of automation projects for real irrigation canals. As supported by students’ answers to an evaluation survey, using the experimental flume allows them to not only experience the involved hydraulics concepts, but also to be introduced in a hands-on manner to the necessary steps required to face any control system design process: modeling the system, designing the controller, testing the control system by simulation, and implementing them in real time. The theoretical background on dynamics and control supporting all these steps is not usually included in a civil engineering curriculum, and thus using the canal as a teaching resource is a better way of introducing future professional civil engineers to new technologies, making a perfect bridge between the classroom and practical activities on real canal facilities. The experience presented in this paper can be easily extrapolated to other disciplines complementing a classical civil engineering curriculum.

This engineering educational module on the behavior of piles in soft clays during earthquake loading sought to introduce engineering as a viable career to eighth graders and teach students how geotechnical engineers design foundations in marginal soils to minimize damage to infrastructure during earthquakes. This module could also be used at various educational levels, from elementary to middle and high school, as well as at the undergraduate level, with appropriate modifications. A 5-h module was created to simulate the real-world behavior of piles in soft clays during earthquake loading and visually show the improvement in how these same piles behave after being stabilized with a deep-soil-mixing technique. In this module, soft soil was simulated using Jell-O, piles were simulated using Slim Jims, and soil stabilization was simulated using peanut butter, marshmallows, or cheese. Each student group had to design a stabilization procedure to improve the behavior of the piles. The students competed to see who could design a stabilized pile with the least amount of deflection for the least amount of money. An abbreviated module was also administered to a group of middle-school science and mathematics teachers. The students’ and teachers’ learning and perceptions were assessed by administering pre- and post-assessment questions, which were matched.

A clashing of views has emerged in the engineering community over Policy 465 and the call for a master’s degree or equivalent as a pre-requisite for professional licensure. This conflict over Policy 465 echoes much of the divisive rhetoric that characterized what Edwin Layton has termed the “revolt of the engineers” in the Progressive Era of the United States in the early part of the 20th century. During this time period, reform-minded engineers attempted to strengthen the professional stature of engineering through licensing initiatives and other reforms. Both then and now, the debates are characterized by diverging opinions about how changes in licensing may affect the competency of engineers, the cost of engineering work, and the public image of engineering. Furthermore, both those in favor of Policy 465 and reformers in the Progressive Era invoke a new higher purpose, or “transcendent value” for the profession to garner support for their movements. Ultimately, these debates underscore the inherent conflict between professional independence and business interests in the practice of engineering. The similar nature of the current debate over Policy 465 and the Progressive Era “revolt” suggests many of the divisive issues of the early 20th century remain unresolved, and is characteristic of two separate ideological cultures within engineering, one professional and one industrial. This long-standing discord within the engineering community highlights the need to better understand the ideologies and values in conflict within engineering in order to more fully realize the potential of the engineering profession.

The existing architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry has a fragmented nature in which each team member works in isolation away from a whole-systems thinking. It is a challenge to produce sustainable buildings with systems optimization and multidisciplinary collaboration among different disciplines. It is therefore crucial to help AEC students learn how to exchange information and work in teams for effective design and construction of sustainable buildings. This paper presents a research study based on a senior level undergraduate course, taught at Michigan State University that utilizes a teamwork approach to teach sustainable built environment practices. The study tests the proposition that integrated student teams produce more comprehensive outputs for sustainable projects by using mixed methods of data collection and analysis: observations, interviews, and qualitative and social network analysis. The results showed that teams with a high degree of interaction and leadership provided creative sustainable solutions and had better articulation for every aspect of the project.

This work presents the results of a case study and addresses an important area within the field of construction safety management, namely behavior-based safety (BBS). The study investigates the implementation process of the BBS management approach and assesses how the commitment of site-level management, BBS implementation observers, and operatives’ impact on safety performance by using data collected from construction sites located in Hong Kong. While achieving the set objectives, this work provoked several aspects of education, training, and engineer’s obligations towards managing safety on construction sites. The research introduces BBS practices in five categories: personal protective equipment, house keeping, access to heights, plant and equipment, and scaffolding. Intervention was introduced and its impacts on site safety were monitored and analyzed. The results revealed that improvement in safety performance was higher when the site-management team was more committed to implementing the intervention. The results confirm that the BBS technique based on goal setting and feedback arrangements can be applied to construction sites to deliver better project safety performance. Managerial implications of these findings are discussed, and guidelines for how project managers, safety professionals, and construction safety practitioners can better implement the BBS approach are also proposed.

The results of a pedagogical strategy implemented at the University of São Paulo at São Carlos are presented and discussed. The initiative was conducted in a transportation course offered to Civil Engineering students. The approach is a combination of problem-based learning and project-based learning (PBL) and blended-learning (B-learning). Starting in 2006, a different problem was introduced every year. From 2009 on, however, the problem-based learning concept was expanded to project-based learning. The performance of the students was analyzed using the following elements: (1) grades in course activities; (2) answers from a questionnaire designed for course evaluation; and (3) cognitive maps made to assess the effects of PBL through the comparison of the responses provided by the students involved and those not involved in the experiment. The results showed positive aspects of the method, such as a strong involvement of several students with the subject. A gradual increase in the average scores obtained by the students in the project activities (from 6.77 in 2006 to 8.24 in 2009) was concomitant with a better evaluation of these activities and of the course as a whole (90 and 97% of options “Good” or “Very good” in 2009, respectively). A growing interest in the field of transportation engineering as an alternative for further studies was also noticed.