1 STUDENT-CENTERED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT DURING UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION IN CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING

Construction engineering and management education is facing special challenges that lie within the nature of the subject area itself. Construction is a highly interdisciplinary profession whose body of knowledge has grown since its formal conception several decades ago to reflect the manifold dimensions of the projects that construction engineers and construction managers are controlling. New learning models need to be explored in teaching to avert the risk of conveying this knowledge to students at the undergraduate level in a fragmented and irrelevant manner. This paper presents an innovative teamwork approach used in a sequence of two undergraduate construction courses at The Catholic University of America (CUA). Following an introduction of student-centered learning, the Construction Management Consulting Project is outlined in its major phases and features, including its realistic scenarios, its modular integration with classroom knowledge, and its review and final documentation. They are linked with the six levels of competence in Bloom’s taxonomy of learning and consider different learning styles. Research studies have confirmed the success of such project-based and student-centered learning environments. The paper concludes with feedback from students and with recommendations for implementing learning experiences that actively engage students to grow into the leaders of tomorrow’s construction industry