Abstract (EN):
Thermodynamics and Transport Properties (TTP) is a central subject in the majority of
chemical engineering curricula worldwide and it is thus of interest to examine how TTP is
taught today in various countries. The contents and the organization of the courses reflect
an understanding of reality (or philosophy) which often is not explicitly expressed. The
discussion about different learning styles (cf., e.g., [1]) and their implication on teaching
methods has also spurred us to investigate which methods are used for thermodynamics
teaching, especially as thermodynamics often is regarded as a ¿difficult subject¿. Our
ultimate aim is that our results will help to improve chemical engineering education.
A survey of graduate thermodynamics education in the USA only was performed a few
years ago by Visco et al. [2]. As far as we know no systematic study of the undergraduate
thermodynamics education has been performed, at least in recent years. In the present
study, a survey about TTP education in both undergraduate and graduate programs in
Europe and the USA is presented. Answers from 136 universities from twenty different
European countries and the USA were collected and used for this study. This study was
performed under the auspices of the Working Party of Thermodynamics and Transport
Properties of the European Federation of Chemical Engineering.
Language:
English
Type (Professor's evaluation):
Scientific
No. of pages:
8