A PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING APPROACH TO DEVELOP MINORITY STUDENTS' SUSTAINABILITY KNOWLEDGE AND PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
Conference
Rahat, R, Pradhananga, P, Elzomor, M. (2022). A PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING APPROACH TO DEVELOP MINORITY STUDENTS' SUSTAINABILITY KNOWLEDGE AND PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
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Rahat, R, Pradhananga, P, Elzomor, M. (2022). A PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING APPROACH TO DEVELOP MINORITY STUDENTS' SUSTAINABILITY KNOWLEDGE AND PROFESSIONAL SKILLS
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The motivation of this study is to position problem-based learning (PBL) as an effective method to teach infrastructure sustainability as well as enhance the professional development of minority students in engineering. Indeed, the minority students' exposure to active learning methods such as problem-based learning (PBL) can effectively foster their capability to deal with open-ended technical problems in their future careers. Additionally, the interactive nature of such methods can facilitate knowledge retention of emerging and effective sustainability concepts. This study highlights how the PBL technique can develop soft skills during sustainability education to Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) students at a minority-serving institution as an effort to promote professional skills of underrepresented groups, i.e., women of color, Latinos/Hispanics in a classroom. This study designed and implemented a PBL activity in a cross-listed Sustainable Approach to Construction course which introduced the students to: (1) sustainable infrastructure and Front-End Planning (FEP) techniques; and (2) how they complement each other to build sustainable infrastructure systems effectively. Sustainable infrastructure systems are critical to reducing social, economic, and environmental impacts on the built environment and FEP can complement building infrastructure systems sustainably by providing effective planning, better scope definition, and improved decision-making. A post-activity survey allowed the 35 AEC students to evaluate the improvement of their sustainability knowledge as well as multiple professional skills including leadership, communication, critical thinking ability, working in teams, and project management through the activity. The results indicated that most of the students including minorities had substantial improvement in their professional skills as well as advanced their knowledge in both areas of infrastructure sustainability and Front-End Planning. Furthermore, the analysis of the open-ended questions revealed that the students valued the PBL method because it offers interactivity, teamwork, an interdisciplinary knowledge-sharing platform, and the ability to simulate a real-life work environment. The findings of this study reveal the positive outcome of the implemented approach by integrating PBL activity in sustainability education for minority students from AEC majors. This method conveys an effective scheme to foster infrastructure sustainability concepts while nurturing multiple professional skills of minority students, particularly the underrepresented groups to better prepare them for the competitive real world.
