Project-based learning for an online course of simulation engineering: From bioreactor to epidemiological modeling
Education for Chemical Engineers
; 42:68-79, 2023.
Article
in English
| Scopus | ID: covidwho-2244825
ABSTRACT
Before the pandemic, distance learning was not a widely adopted option for science and engineering programs where in some courses, such as chemistry, electromagnetism, or fluid mechanics, etc., attending to laboratories and workshops was in most cases mandatory. The lockdown forced us to innovate, searching alternative ways to teach experimental phenomena, suddenly replaced with simulation science and technology, subjects that although rely on computers, also suffered changes from the transition. In this contribution, we propose an undergraduate course on simulation for chemical engineering, departing from the fact that modeling, and simulation are multipurpose and multidisciplinary tools. The course aims to reinforce the concepts of dynamical systems by using analogies between process engineering examples and other disciplines, particularly, epidemiology. For this purpose, a final project on modeling the dynamics of the COVID 19 pandemic in Mexico was designed and validated with a public database from the Mexican Secretariat of Health. By doing this, the students got in touch with the evolution of the dynamics outside of school hours, since it was common to see weekly updates and extrapolation trends of the pandemic, thus applying their skills to the final project. It was found that success factors were the use of official data, the use of Graphical User Interfaces to explore diverse simulation scenarios and the final project. The transition to the Distance Learning faced several challenges that were partially coped with the redesign of the course. © 2023 Institution of Chemical Engineers
Dynamical systems; E-learning; Engineering education; Fluid mechanics; Graphical user interfaces; Learning systems; Students; Distance-learning; Engineering program; Epidemiological modeling; Model and simulation; Multidisciplinary learning; Online course; Project based learning; Science and engineering; Science projects; Simulation engineering; COVID-19; Biochemical Engineering; Distance Learning; Modeling and simulation; Project-based learning
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
Scopus
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Language:
English
Journal:
Education for Chemical Engineers
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS