Undergraduate Level Hands-on Ecological Engineering Course with Semester-Long Project and Laboratory Exercises

Our society currently faces many environmental challenges including: depletion of natural resources; pollution of soil, water and air; waste disposal; and climate change. To best solve these environmental challenges, society needs college graduates ready to enter workforce that possess an understanding of natural processes along with the ability to incorporate these processes into traditional engineering solutions. Therefore, a new course in Ecological Engineering and Science (EES) was developed to teach students how to take lessons from nature and utilize them for solving problems in the natural environment and ensuring its sustainability. As the course was being taught for the first time, it was quickly apparent that students majoring in Biological Engineering and Environmental science lacked adequate background and preparation in EES and data science. The course was then adjusted to immerge these students into EES and data science using experiential learning by developing laboratory exercises and a semester long project on wetland design. The project included designed laboratory exercises and hands-on work to teach ecological engineering skills as well as leadership, teamwork, and communication. Other class modules included a lesson on data science and several laboratory exercises on topics of bioretention basins, wetlands, physico-chemical processes, and green roofs. The students' performance in the projects steadily improved each year and grades for the course increased each year. The grades for the 2023 class were significantly higher than the grades for the 2019 class, which was the first year the course was taught. We believe this is likely due to the addition of the experiential learning components to the class. The revised course received positive student comments in the course assessment, which indicated enhanced student interest and learning.