Civil engineering students take advantage of hands-on team learning experiences

If a chemical is added to a water distribution network, how far along in the system will it no longer be effective?

This is one of the many questions facing students in Civil Engineering 581, an environmental engineering class that focuses on water and wastewater quality and quantities, distribution, storm drainage, sludge processing, and the many other aspects of the entire system.

The class is a prime example of the Schulich School of Engineering’s focus on hands-on, experiential learning.

“This class has three components: one is the lab, one is the in-class teaching, and one is the project, which is developed at the end of the course,” says course instructor Dr. Chiara Belvederesi, MSc’18, PhD’23. “Everything that I teach in class has a meaning that is much deeper than just the theory and concept.”

She says this change in educational philosophy is paying dividends for students looking to make an impact in their future careers.

Developing skills

Belvederesi says when she was a student at Marche University in Italy, her classes didn’t have a lab component.

It wasn’t until her first job in her home country that she was able to put her early engineering knowledge into practice, which left her at a disadvantage compared with graduates of other schools.

Belvederesi says UCalgary students have numerous resources at their fingertips. “These are brand-new labs that are very clean and well-equipped,” says the Department of Civil Engineering instructor. 

“It’s actually a very good representation of what we do today and the tools that are being used in the field.”

She says the Schulich lab experience should give students the confidence they need to develop their future careers, adding they should also try to focus less on the numerical outcome and more on the reason why they arrived at a certain conclusion.

“Do you understand what that number means, whatever the number is?” Belvederesi says.

Creating connections

While handling equipment and analyzing results is important for the job, Belvederesi says labs are vital for teaching teamwork.

Now in a teaching role, she uses the exercises and labs to prompt conversations between students to compare and contrast notes and ways of doing things.

“It’s not a solo job and it’s not always just with engineers,” she says. “We’re working with biologists, chemists and all other backgrounds and, together, we can get the best solution to a problem.”

Belvederesi says those connections can prove valuable as many people change jobs over the course of their careers, usually through people they know.

Learn more about engineering at Schulich and take a virtual tour of the school.