Abstract:

The laboratory is an indispensable component in science and engineering educational processes. Majors in fields including biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering are the most important sectors of science that require hands on learning. The laboratory work is essential to put theory into practice as well as in getting students accustomed with the testing, standards, and procedure. An environmental engineering laboratory applies basic understanding and calculations to measure physical, chemical, and biological parameters of water and wastewater. In this paper, the experience of the development of a needed new environmental engineering laboratory in the department of engineering at University of Tennessee at Martin is shared. The developed laboratory is added as a core requirement for all civil engineering concentration students. The content of the paper describes all the incorporated work and experience in the development of this laboratory including a description of the experiments’ methods of a wide range of water quality parameters: drinking water, surface water, ground water, and wastewater. The laboratory is currently equipped with BOD meters, pH meters, DO meters, Turbidimeters, Spectrophotometers, Conductivity meters, Jar Testers, Ovens, Incubator, A Vacuum system, A built-in fume hood, Chemicals, and Glassware. A questionnaire was developed to assess the students’ gain in the knowledge of environmental engineering topics based on the hands-on laboratory work experience. Developing a new engineering laboratory requires a lot of preparation, commitment, and can get to be challenging at some times, but undoubtedly worth the efficacious accomplishments gained by the students.

Keywords:

Environmental, engineering, laboratory, experimental, hands-on.