Keeping chemical engineering education relevant

In this article, Andrew Zydney of the Pennsylvania State University has provided his personal perspective on how to more effectively motivate students by introducing new example problems that can help make chemical engineering more relevant to today’s undergraduate students, particularly in the introductory Materials and Engineering Balances course that he has taught at both the University of Delaware and Penn State. One of the key factors that underlies issues related to motivation is the concept of relevance, which refers to the perception that something is both interesting and worth knowing. A number of previous studies have shown that instructors who make their course content more relevant report that students have greater motivation to engage with and learn the content. This is particularly important in required introductory courses which have such an important impact on student persistence within the major.