Teaching construction: a design-based course model

摘要

There are many other construction topics that can be taught with an array of lab activities to reinforce those topics; however, the activities presented in this article were selected for their ease to implement at a relatively low cost while immersing students in the design process. Resources for additional construction lessons and laboratory activities can be found for free from various organizations (e.g., PBS Design Squad, ASEE: eGFI). As the construction industry continues to grow and evolve due to technological advances, teachers must remember to adapt the topics and labs they teach in T&E courses to ensure the curriculum reflects the needs of society (Bjorklund, 1988). This course model provides excellent suggestions for teachers seeking to implement a construction unit or provide a general overview of the construction process in survey T&E courses. Other T&E teacher preparation programs should consider allowing construction management and T&E education faculty members to co-teach their construction technology course from a design and structures perspective. Facing similar challenges, Millersville University of Pennsylvania has made modifications to its construction technology course for T&E teachers and retitled it, "Engineering Structures." In this course, students design, construct, and evaluate model structures, with emphasis placed on related STEM principles. We found the course model presented in this article to be very beneficial for T&E education students. UMES is exploring the possibility of combining additional courses using a similar design-based STEM approach to help maximize departmental resources and address overlap in content.