Increasing Bloom’s Hierarchical Learning in Aerospace Engineering – a Case Study of Forensic Engineering Course using a “Chain of Events”

Abstract

An often heard complaint is the inability of students to apply their learning at a higher level in Bloom's taxonomy. However, the challenge in teaching basic forensic engineering principles to students and achieving a higher Bloom's learning hierarchy is time. As a Master's elective course within a two-year Aerospace Engineering curriculum, limited time is allocated (84 hours). Teaching students the fundamentals of Forensic Engineering, applying them, and synthesize the knowledge in four class hours, plus self-study, over seven weeks is challenging. As such the lecture setup needs to address theory, application, and synthesis in a fundamental, educationally constructive approach. By having a multi-step group exercise which is running concurrently alongside the academic theoretical and hands-on lectures, the students are challenged to apply the concepts learned and synthesize their knowledge. This paper presents a case study: the "Chain of Events" group exercise, which students are required to perform as part of the forensic engineering course. The exercise was mainly developed to bridge the learning gap from application to creation by a problem-based-learning exercise. Furthermore, the exercise prepares students for the hands on exam whereby an actual crash is recreated. Within this paper the Forensic Engineering learning outcomes, the setup of the "Chain of Events" exercise, its results and the evaluation of student performance and satisfaction will be described.