Title:
Concrete Bridge Freshman-Design Projects: Improving Communication and Belonging
Author(s):
Hedegaard
Publication:
Web Session
Volume:
ws_S25_Hedegaard.pdf
Issue:
Appears on pages(s):
Keywords:
DOI:
Date:
3/30/2025
Abstract:
A concrete bridge design project was implemented in an Introduction to Civil Engineering class to improve student communication, retention, and belonging. The goal was to create an authentic disciplinary experience, mimicking a designer-contractor relationship. Such experiences increase students' feeling of belonging to the program and self-identities as civil engineers. At the beginning of the semester, every student team is assigned two distinct projects, one of which they serve as the role of designer and the other they serve as contractor. In the first half of the semester, the teams each produce their designs. At mid semester, teams swap their design documents and then proceed to fabricate or implement their partner team's design. This presentation summarizes the project development, implementation, and assessment.