Paving New Roads To Knowledge: An Experiment To Enhance Construction Education

Abstract

As a result of their own sometimes frustrating educational experiences, and a growing discontent with their current teaching methods, the authors, in conjunction with another instructor, decided to try an experiment. With the goal of enhancing visualization and understanding, the instructors created several multi-path educational paths for the reinforced concrete class. These alternative paths or “roads” included electronic visits to the site of the construction of a concrete frame building, homework assignments based on the various building components, discussions with the project manager, and a “hands on” public service project. This paper details the traditional and multi-path educational delivery models in a concrete course, resources required to “construct” more roads to knowledge, the results of a short survey of student reaction, and a synopsis of faculty comments on the effectiveness of the effort.