Enhancing Student Learning by Providing a Failure Risk-free Environment and Experiential Learning Opportunities

In second year civil engineering, students participate in a horizontally integrated bridge design project to increase their exposure to engineering application and prepare for their fourthyear design project. To compliment this project, a two-day event called CivE Days was implemented. This event freed students from classes and deadlines and allowed them to completely immerse themselves in a simulated bridge design project. The set-up of the event is split into four stages: preliminary design, bridge construction, bridge testing and project reflection. Learning takes place through a combination of experiential learning, group work, reflective learning, and learning from failure. All of these pedagogical approaches promote a deeper level of learning for students and enhance knowledge retention in upper years. The event was not graded to allow students to experiment and learn in a stressfree environment. This provided a positive atmosphere where design creativity was encouraged without fear of failure. The effectiveness of the CivE Days initiative was evaluated through the final bridge project testing results, final bridge project report marks, and surveys submitted at the end of the CivE Days event. The bridge project grades and testing results for students who participated in CivE Days was compared to the bridge project grades and testing results for a control class who did not have the opportunity to participate in the CivE Days event. It was found that student grades and performance improved, indicating a better understanding of the bridge design project and how the information from the different courses are integrated.