(259b) Incorporating Skills Experiences in Unit Operations

Lab for Chemical Engineering students at Notre Dame consists of a junior lab (Lab 1), and a senior lab, taken in the spring and following fall semesters, respectively. All students take the same junior lab and there is a curricular option for senior lab where students choose between a more traditional Chemical Engineering lab (Lab 2) and a Biomolecular Engineering lab (Biolab). In spring 2023, junior lab was changed to incorporate 6 skill development experiences. Before changes, junior lab consisted of experiments, 3 weeks in duration, where students in groups of 3 would rotate through 4 of the 4-7 experiments running that semester depending on the number of students taking the course. A prelab and safety quiz is required at the start of week 1. A preliminary report with specific deliverables is due week 2 in order to catch computational errors or gaps in understanding. Some experiments have a deliverable due at the beginning of week 3. A final report is due during ‘week 4’ or week 1 of the next experiment rotation. Students then have an oral defense of the work with the instructor, usually within about one week. The final rotation deliverable is a shorter, extended abstract and public presentation with Q&A from all the lab faculty members, replacing the final report and defense.

The change to Lab 1 involved removing the first of the 4 cycles, replacing the cycle with 6 skill development experiences, 2 per week. Reasons for including these skills experiences as well as selecting the specific skills will be presented. The skill development experiences were: group based (group formation and group contracts), lab safety audit, technical writing instruction, calibration and non-linear modeling with error analysis, creating a piping network, and reading a P&ID. A short summary (with pictures!) of each skill development activity will be shown.

Shortly after the 3 week skill development cycle, a 5 point Likert survey was given asking students about desirability of each skill development activity and self-perceived usefulness of each skill with regard to their lab experience (students currently taking Lab 1 with Lab 2/Biolab taken the following fall semester) and future professional career. After the conclusion of Lab 1, the same survey will be administered again, only changing the wording to reflect realized usefulness of each skill in Lab 1. Comparison of these results will be provided.

Early results are not surprising. Overall, students enjoy the activities that have a concrete goal of building something the most. The student perceptions of usefulness of each skill in their two lab courses and professional career loosely follow the instructors’ intent.