IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i19p8637-d1493019.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring Sustainability Instruction Methods in Engineering Thermodynamics Courses: Insights from Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Author

Listed:
  • Joan K. Tisdale

    (Integrated Design Engineering Program, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA)

  • Angela R. Bielefeldt

    (Department of Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA)

Abstract

It is important that engineers are educated to consider sustainability in their work. Thermodynamics is a fundamental course required in several engineering majors that has a natural connection to sustainability topics (e.g., energy and limits on efficiency). This work examined how sustainability was included in university-level engineering thermodynamics courses, based on 18 peer-reviewed papers that described Scholarship of Teaching and Learning studies. This review found that environmental issues were included in 15 courses, social issues in 9 courses, and economic issues in 5. There were 11 papers that included topics related to one or more of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with 8 of the 17 SDGs represented by one or more papers. The learning outcomes from the courses provided many examples of cognitive outcomes at all six levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. In contrast, affective domain outcomes were generally not explicit. Methods of integrating sustainability topics included mathematical examples, labs, projects, service-learning, application-based learning, simulation tools, and book reviews. These examples should inspire instructors to foster sociotechnical mindsets toward engineering, which are a key to educating engineers who value sustainability and who will advocate for its importance in engineering.

Suggested Citation

  • Joan K. Tisdale & Angela R. Bielefeldt, 2024. "Exploring Sustainability Instruction Methods in Engineering Thermodynamics Courses: Insights from Scholarship of Teaching and Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-16, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:19:p:8637-:d:1493019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/19/8637/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/19/8637/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles E. Sprouse III & Maximilian Davy & Anna Doyle & Grace Rembold, 2021. "A Critical Survey of Environmental Content in United States Undergraduate Mechanical Engineering Curricula," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-17, June.
    2. Jian Zhang & Heejin Cho & Pedro J. Mago, 2021. "Improving Student Learning of Energy Systems through Computational Tool Development Process in Engineering Courses," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-15, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Patrycja Hąbek & Magdalena Palacz & Fizza Saeed, 2024. "Embedding Sustainability into Mechanical Engineering Master Programs—A Case Study of the Top Technical Universities in Europe," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-21, January.
    2. Na Li & Ping Jiang & Cuihong Li & Wei Wang, 2022. "College Teaching Innovation from the Perspective of Sustainable Development: The Construction and Twelve-Year Practice of the 2P3E4R System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-16, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:19:p:8637-:d:1493019. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.