Preliminary study on teaching an engineering course through murder mysteries

The paper reflects on my teaching of a third-year required undergraduate course, "Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering," through murder mysteries, i.e., forensic case studies-based learning.The murder mysteries involves first introducing an engineering failure relevant to the topic; then the students identify potential reasons for failure and rank them; we then cooperatively explore the different reasons and the students proceed from the known to the unknown and, in doing so, develop a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental principles (abstract concepts) they later encounter.This forensic-based teaching solves the most glaring problem in the traditional method: introducing abstract concepts before presenting concrete examples in the real world.The conventional process inhibits student learning as abstract concepts remain vague and unclear.By introducing an engaging, relevant forensic case study upfront, we capture students' attention and interest and allow them to experience the process of doing real-world engineering.Overall, the course rating improved considerably, achieving the highest in the last twenty years -a rating of 4.9 out of 5.0, well above the average course rating of 3.8 during the same period.The paper describes the background and methodology in developing an engineering course through murder mysteries.