Similarities and differences in architectural, civil, and environmental engineering students' perceptions of the body of knowledge

Abstract

At many Universities, architectural, civil, and environmental engineering have a significant amount of the curriculum in common. For example, at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU) all three programs share 32% of the required course credits in common, with a minimum of an additional 12% in common between Civil : Architectural and 10% in common between Civil : Environmental. Further, the skills and knowledge desired for these engineers also have much in common. To explore the similarities and differences in these disciplines as perceived by students, a Body of Knowledge (BOK2) survey was distributed to senior students as part of the lifelong learning module in the three separate capstone design courses. Students were asked to rank the American Society of Civil Engineers' (ASCE) 24 BOK2 outcomes from most to least important to their future careers. Among students in all three majors, design and problem solving were by far the top ranked outcomes; communication and teamwork were ranked between 3 to 6 by all majors; and there was also consensus among the bottom rated items (public policy 22, social science 23, humanities 24). Outcomes with the greatest divergence between the three majors were: mechanics, natural science, contemporary issues, math, and sustainability. These differences are also reflected in the predominance of these topics in the curriculum at CU. Items with the greatest differences of opinion within architectural engineering majors based on standard deviation were: math, attitudes, material sciences, and mechanics; or based on the difference between the maximum and minimum rankings were: sustainability, science, and experiments (ranked by some as high as 1 and others as low as 24). Among civil engineering students the greatest differences of opinion were for the outcomes breadth, lifelong learning, experiments, and math; or based on the maximum rank minus minimum rank were: sustainability, ethics, math, and breadth. Finally, among environmental engineering students the greatest differences of opinion based on the standard deviation of the average ranking were for the natural science, material science, math, and mechanics; or based on difference in the maximum and minimum rank were: math and communication. Differences in the perceptions of senior students based on Likert-scale ratings were also determined from graduating senior surveys administered by the College of Engineering. In addition, the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam is required for students in all three majors, and the results were compared. Recognizing similarities and differences points to items that are important for all students and should be emphasized, as well as the need to allow students flexibility to develop a skill set best suited to their future career aspirations. © 2012 American Society for Engineering Education.