Enhancing Engineering Students’ Learning in an Environmental Microbiology Course

While environmental engineering students have gained some knowledge of biogeochemical cycles and sewage treatment, most of them haven’t learned microbiology previously and usually have difficulty in learning environmental microbiology because microbiology deals with invisible living microorganisms...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Zhi Zhou
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Society for Microbiology 2012-08-01
Series:Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
Subjects:
Online Access:http://jmbesubmissions.asm.org/index.php/jmbe/article/view/456
Description
Summary:While environmental engineering students have gained some knowledge of biogeochemical cycles and sewage treatment, most of them haven’t learned microbiology previously and usually have difficulty in learning environmental microbiology because microbiology deals with invisible living microorganisms instead of visible built environment. Many teaching techniques can be used to enhance students’ learning in microbiology courses, such as lectures, animations, videos, small-group discussions, and active learning techniques. All of these techniques have been applied in the engineering class, but the results indicate that these techniques are often inadequate for students. Learning difficulties have to be identified to enhance students’ learning.
ISSN:1935-7877
1935-7885