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Abstract In the 2022 report, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommended an increased emphasis on experimental learning to facilitate effective connections among core courses, often referred to as 'the silos' 1. ABET also requires that students develop the abilities to design and conduct experiments, analyze data, and draw conclusions by the time of their graduation 2. Yet, the densely packed core undergraduate curriculum in chemical engineering leaves minimal room for the inclusion of additional hands-on laboratory courses. To ensure that these requirements extend beyond mere course objectives, innovative instructional strategies become essential. The senior chemical engineering laboratory course (i.e., Unit Operations lab) in authors' instruction offers students the opportunity to engage in six experiments that span various core concept areas in chemical engineering such as mass transfer, kinetics, and controls, while honing skill sets like experimental design, data analysis, modeling, and prototype construction. These experiments traditionally involve standard procedures. This work, however, departs from convention by introducing open-ended, at-home experiments. In this approach, students took about six weeks to follow a deductive approach to develop hypotheses from a theory (of their choosing), design experiment(s), collect and analyze data, and compare the experimental data with theoretical predictions. Students were tasked with locating, organizing, and evaluating information, culminating in the preparation of a concise report and oral presentations in the semester's concluding weeks. As instructor, the primary objective of this project was to assess students' critical thinking processes and their capacity to establish meaningful connections with core concepts through experimental learning 3. During the current academic semester (fall 2023), students completed ten open-ended experiments (n = 20; 2 students per group). In the preceding fall semester of 2022, students undertook 18 projects (n = 36) encompassing a wide array of concepts, including transport phenomena (momentum, heat, and mass transfer), kinetics, general chemistry, and thermodynamics. A questionnaire was administered, focusing on three key areas: (i) planning and time allocation for preparation and experimentation, (ii) feedback and proposed enhancements, and (iii) self-assessment of their learning outcomes. Of particular significance was the third area, aimed at elucidating the extent of knowledge acquired from these experiments. Our analysis suggests that students valued the experience of conducting open-ended, at-home projects, relishing the independence, autonomy, and control they gained over the entire experimental process. As researchers, we were intrigued to find that students, with minimal guidance, were capable of independently design simple yet good experiments to validate theories. These findings complement the Student Outcomes data obtained from other traditional experiments. While these insights are anecdotal in nature, these types of experiments have significantly strengthened students' enthusiasm for teaching, which they aspire to pass on to their junior peers.
Gautom Kumar Das (Sun,) studied this question.