Engineering - Chemical (53) Current engineering education embraces computer-based visualizations and simulations to foster student learning. There is evidence that these technological advances, while improving student understanding of complex theories, have simultaneously led to a decrease in opportunities for students to explore forces, causal factors, and effects in the real world. The result is that diminished opportunity to physically experience produces a diminished ability to perceive among our undergraduate students. In this project, laboratory exercises are being developed to reconnect undergraduate chemical engineering students with the physical world. The new lab experiences emphasize somatic opportunities that promote physical insight and engineering judgment. These activities are designed to stimulate independent thought and creativity while promoting use of the human senses, tactile learning, tinkering, and data interpretation. The project's impact on student learning is being rigorously assessed through qualitative and quantitative measures. Project results are being broadly disseminated through presentations at conferences and through the development of a project web site.
