(57c) Designing Engineering Case Studies to Practice Open-Ended Problem Solving in Core Courses

Most chemical engineering core courses focus on solving problems that have a clear right and wrong answer. Despite this, after graduation most students will need to learn to utilize the skills they have learned in class to solve poorly defined or open-ended problems. Here, we explore the use of in-class case studies to enable students to practice applying course material to open-ended problems. Specifically, our case studies are inspired by case studies in business school settings and are designed to practice decision making and teamwork, where the decisions are informed by the technical concepts taught in the course. We developed three application-oriented case studies for a sophomore-level numerical methods course (which is a core course in our department). We will discuss the core components and design parameters of these case studies and how they qualitatively impact learning objectives (evaluated using interview and survey data). Finally, we will discuss how this methodology can be used in the context of chemical engineering core/elective courses more generally.