Educating Students to be Creative Problem Solvers as 21st Century Engineers

Pedagogical imperatives in the teaching of project management

“…Holvikivi (2007) for example discusses the need to design a new civil engineering curriculum which incorporates a range of instructional modalities. According to Schneck (2002) this approach ensures that a broad range of both inductive and deductive principles are needed, ensuring that students have a broader understanding of how different modules are linked together and how different professions operating within the project environment are linked together. Accordingly, Schneck (2002), Christodoulou (2004) and Clarke (2007) are of the opinion that any new dispensation of civil engineering education should be focused on creating effective and creative problem solvers who are able to deal and interact with the ever-expanding amount of information and data civil engineers have to deal with.…”

“…According to Schneck (2002) this approach ensures that a broad range of both inductive and deductive principles are needed, ensuring that students have a broader understanding of how different modules are linked together and how different professions operating within the project environment are linked together. Accordingly, Schneck (2002), Christodoulou (2004) and Clarke (2007) are of the opinion that any new dispensation of civil engineering education should be focused on creating effective and creative problem solvers who are able to deal and interact with the ever-expanding amount of information and data civil engineers have to deal with. Wilkinson and Scofield (2002) and Grigg et al (2004) see an integrated pedagogical approach which incorporates teaching styles, materials and knowledge from a wide variety of areas as one of the most viable means of accommodating the ongoing changes within the profession.…”

“…Students are also taught using both traditional approaches such as lectures, or online using various e-learning portals on how to use popular project planning software such as MicroSoft Project and PRIMEVERA. The key objective according to Schneck (2002), Christodoulou (2004), and Clarke (2007) is to enhance the development of key skills and competencies, thus ensuring that civil engineering students develop a flexible technical and managerial outlook of their role.…”

“…(a) A curriculum which has been historically focused on inductive skill sets (Schneck, 2002), and therefore has emphasised detailed knowledge of highly quantitative subjects at the expense of 'softer' skills such as communication. (b) The civil engineering curriculum lacks the necessary scope to give its students opportunities to be exposed to the activities of other professions within the project delivery process (Wilkinson and Scofield, 2002).…”

Teaching and Assessment of Innovation and Creativity in Civil Engineering: Why? How? Now!

“…Seymour and Hewitt noted the lack of practical application of material as among the reasons students leave STEM [19]. Thus, it appears that many engineering programs could devote greater attention to fostering creativity among students.A number individuals have encouraged greater integration of innovation and creativity into civil engineering education [11,[20][21][22][23]. For example, Arciszewski [24] notes:…”