Abstract:

In the High Education Chemical Technology area material and energy balances are widely employed for process design or specific units design. Therefore, in the different careers related with the Chemical Technology these balances are used in different subjects along the degree. After having analyzed the difficulties students have with this issue, we have asked ourselves why this is happening and what we can do to improve their learning and understanding. With this objective students from different Engineering degrees (Industrial, Environmental, Organization), at different levels (1st, 2nd, 3rd and master) from different centers of the University of the Basque Country (Vitoria and Bilbao) will be analyzed. We will give all the students the same problem, where they have to implement material and energy balances, without explaining them which type of problem is. With the results we will be able to conclude whether students have deeply understood the balances, or if they just know how to apply them when they are focused on subjects were this issue is specifically studied. With these results we will also detect if the methodology employed for teaching them these concepts is adequate or not.

Keywords:

Engineering, high education, material balances.