Abstract
Our previous teaching experience indicate that the “Innovation and Design” theme needs to be further enhanced for education at CUHK, in particular the training and practice for hands-on experience related to that theme. Therefore, the aim of this proposal is to provide project-based teaching and learning activities in the two courses, i.e. MAEG3920 (Engineering Design and Applications) and EEEN2040 (Building Service Engineering and Green Building), so that the engineering students could gain more experience on nanotechnology and have a deeper understanding on how nanotechnology driven “Innovation and Design” can be applied for practical applications and hence change our daily life.
Nanotechnology is an emerging discipline that studies the structure and materials at the scale of nanometer (i.e. 10-9 m). With the decrease of the size of structures/materials to the nanoscale, lots of interesting new effects and properties will occur. In the two nanotechnology related projects, one is focused on the development of self-cleaning textile, and the other one is related to filtration of PM2.5 air pollutant for better in-door air quality. The Principal Supervisor and Co Supervisor envision that after the project-based teaching and learning activities, the students will have much better understanding of nanotechnology via hands-on practice, and with significant enhancement of their local/global competitiveness on innovation and design.
Brief write-up
Project objectives
- To enhance teaching and learning activities through “group project” manner in the two undergraduate courses, i.e. MAEG3920 (Engineering Design and Applications) and EEEN2040 (Building Service Engineering and Green Building), so that the engineering students could gain more hands-on experience on nanotechnology and engineering design for practical applications.
- To cultivate the undergraduates with an emphasis on “Innovation and Design”, so that they could broaden their horizon in innovative technology, enhance global competitiveness, and potentially make more contributions to our society in future.
Activities, process and outcomes
During the past two academic years, five projects were designed and conducted by the students for MAEG3920. For each project, the students had to form a group and complete the assigned tasks including the project report(s), a group presentation, demonstration of the designed prototype, preparation of a video clip for the project and peer evaluation. And for the course EEEN 2040, one project was designed and conducted by the students. Overall, the students gain lots of hands-on experiences on nanotechnology and engineering design from different aspects for innovation and practical applications. The feedback from the students is also very positive, and we plan to continue on doing it in the following academic years.
Deliverables and evaluation
- Principal supervisor and co-supervisor designed six projects in two courses for the undergraduates to practice and gain hands-on experience on nanotechnology, engineering design, and practical applications.
- For each project, students prepared a project report with a short video clip to present the highlights about their teamwork for the progress of the project.
- The evaluation is based on the performance of the design prototype, the group presentation, the project reports and the peer evaluation results. The students are also encouraged to participate in local/national/international competitions to showcase outputs from their project achievements.
Dissemination, diffusion, impact and sharing of good practices
The full description of all five projects for MAEG3920 are available online, please see
http://www.cuhklizhanggroup.com/index.php?c=content&a=list&catid=30 (2017-18)
http://www.cuhklizhanggroup.com/index.php?c=content&a=list&catid=31 (2018-19)
The video clips prepared by the students are available in YouTube Channel, please see
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSp6Yk93I3jMhh-ChkXHFWw
For EEEN2040, the project website is available in this web link:
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLb0Hix-iiC8ijCUHQqNcVQ
