Incorporating Woodwork Fabrication into the Integrated Teaching and Learning of Civil Engineering Students

Abstract

As an alternative to the traditional structural analysis adopting computer-aided modeling and evaluation, this pedagogical research provides an integrated teaching and learning approach by mapping cognitive domains in a newly launched course, Woodwork Fabrication and Analysis, for second-year students. The course incorporates ancient Chinese woodworking tradition into the integrated learning activities involving engineering graphics, mechanics of materials, hands-on fabrication, and structural modeling/analysis. Comparing the traditional and new courses in terms of their effectiveness in enhancing student learning of structural engineering subjects, both courses are designed to achieve consistent learning outcomes (e.g., to develop structural analysis skills). This study demonstrates student work in engineering drawing and structural analysis reflecting their critical thinking and active learning in the new course. Students from both the traditional and new courses were surveyed about their overall satisfaction with their selected course, their perceptions of the course effectiveness in enhancing civil engineering–related skills, and their expectations of the effect of the course on their further study and work. With the student sample from the traditional course as the control group, the comparative study reveals that the integrated teaching and learning approach in the new course could lead to higher overall student satisfaction and more-positive perceptions of the course effectiveness in enhancing structural analysis–related skills. This pedagogical study will serve as a reference for other civil engineering educators in adopting integrated teaching and learning in lower-year undergraduate education.