Popolopen Brook Float Bridge Project: Integrating History, Community Service, And Engineering Education

This paper describes a one-semester design-build capstone project in which two senior civil engineering students designed a 230-foot pedestrian float bridge for the local state park commission and built one full-scale module of the bridge as a “proof of concept.” The project was a particularly effective learning experience, in that it involved complex technical issues in structural, hydraulic, and construction engineering, substantial real-world constraints associated with a historically significant site, and a strong community service component. The educational benefits of the project included grappling with real-world constraints, solving substantial technical problems, using the worldwide web for research, and coping with construction management difficulties such as limited funding, delayed shipments, and miscommunication. Most important, the students learned how to bring a project from concept through construction. Student assessment data demonstrate that such projects contribute much, not only to students’ learning, but to their motivation, thinking skills, and creativity as well.