(372c) Engaging Engineering Students Using Memes

Whether class lectures are 1 or 4 hours long, it can be difficult for students to stay focused on the materials at hand. One way to maintain student attention is to include short cartoons or memes in lecture slides. Memes are usually represented by humorous images, videos, or text, and they are often copied and spread ‘virally’ through the Internet. As memes exist for nearly every concept, they can be used to showcase chemical engineering in an entertaining manner, and there are many benefits to including memes in course discussions. The use of humor in memes is meant to grab people’s attention, therefore students are more likely to remember course materials if they can visualize these concepts with pictures or funny ideas. Memes are also very popular with college-age millennials, therefore they are a great way to relate to students and to engage them to think about engineering concepts outside of class. In this talk, the use and effectiveness of memes in a variety of chemical engineering courses will be demonstrated.