Teaching Sustainable Engineering and Industrial Ecology using a Hybrid Problem-Project Based Learning Approach

Recently there has been an increased societal awareness of the environmental impacts of industrial activities. Many universities have included courses in sustainable engineering and industrial ecology in their engineering/technology curriculum to better prepare tomorrow’s engineering professional. A unifying thread that runs through such courses is a “life cycle” based holistic approach to product, process and infrastructure design. Application of appropriate pedagogy is key to active student engagement in the learning process and to the application of concepts to the solution of technical problems. In this paper a hybrid problem-project based pedagogical approach to teaching sustainable engineering and industrial ecology is described. Problem based learning was used to promote self- directed student learning of key course concepts in which teams of students solved problems in product or process design. These problems typically were related to the lecture topic that was to be covered for the day. Project based learning was used as a central organizing principle for the course and to enable students to apply the principles of life cycle assessment (LCA) of environmental impacts of a product. The project, which was assigned early in the semester and due at the end, drove all of the learning activities for the semester. Based on the assessment of student learning in 2015 and 2016, the pedagogical strategies adopted are promoting the comprehension and application of sustainable engineering and industrial ecology toward the development of environmentally sound products and processes.