Earth System Science (ESS) Course for Urban Planning and Engineering Undergraduate Students

Urban planning and engineering undergraduate students need to understand the earth physical systems and that how human beings interact with the earth systems to planning and engineering urban area. The eco-friendly or geo-friendly design and planning of an urban area is a critical issue not only for economic benefits but more importantly for the sustainable future of urban life. However, little study has been done dealing with the urban engineering students' understanding of the earth as a system and what pedagogical approach is appropriate to improve their understanding of the earth as a system. This study is to investigate the impact of a purposely designed ESS course on urban engineering students' understanding of the earth as a system and their perceptions about the instructional approaches of the course on their learning competency. This study utilized a mixed-methodology with three main data sources: concept maps, student's perception survey about their learning competency, and course contents. Both the survey and concept maps were analyzed quantitatively as well as qualitatively. The result of this study showed that the urban engineering students' experience of team-based research about the topic they chose based on their own interest had a positive impact on their understanding of the earth as a system and their learning competency. The results of this study suggest that structuring and presenting the earth system contents in the context of engineering students' understanding and their future career be effective not only for the improvement of students' content knowledge but also for the enhancement of their learning competency such as creativity and problem-solving skills in everyday life situation.