Virtual Booth

Principles of Chemical Engineering or Material and Energy Balance is a core course in the Chemical Engineering degree which focuses on the application of mathematics, science and engineering fundamentals. The basic core discipline in Principles of Chemical Engineering is normally difficult to be comprehended by the first year of undergraduate students because it involves theoretical concepts, equations and many variables. The course delivery is also usually conducted in a passive mode. In addition, a new generation of students, millennials typically prefer interactive learning approaches. Due to these attributes, the students are uninterested, unmotivated in class and difficult to comprehend theoretical concepts as implemented in real phenomena. This is associated with the poor performance demonstrated by the students in their summative assessments including tests and final examinations. In fact, feedback from the industry that complaints inability of graduates to apply the knowledge clearly exhibits the lack of theory-practice implementation in engineering education. These drawbacks drive the motivation to change the teaching approach for first year engineering courses. The complement between theoretical and practical work has been identified as a reinforcing strategy that can be used to enhance the efficiency and knowledge of the students. Therefore, the team-based project is embedded in traditional studies to stimulate links between theoretical and practical concepts for this course. The implementation of this invention successfully elevates the student’s thinking capabilities, imparts social skills to the student, time management, leadership and communication.