Abstract:

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are objectives established by the United Nations and designed to bring peace and prosperity to people. SDGs are important in education, because they raise the awareness of the challenges faced by society, as well as opportunities for improvement around the world. The 17 SDGs are related to different development aspects (such as but not limited to gender equality, zero hunger, and access to clean water), hence knowledge of SDGs can give otherwise common teaching-learning activities across different disciplines a sense of purpose, resulting in increased motivation and engagement. At the same time, Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching-learning methodology where students are given a problem (with several possible answers) to be solved, with guidance from a dedicated teacher. In engineering, PBL is known to increase engagement and motivation by providing autonomy, relatedness, and active-learning environments to student. PBL, together with SDGs, can become a silver bullet in higher education, as students’ consciousness of the importance of different knowledge might affect their view on studying, and promote their learning. In this work, the PBL methodology was used in a fluid flow course taught to second-year chemical engineering students in a private university. The students had to analyze and design the fluid flow system in a wastewater treatment system in a real-life food production plant; wastewater sanitation is related to goal 6 (Clean water and sanitation). Importantly, the students were not tasked with designing the unit operations involved in water sanitation, and only designed the pipes, fluid flow accessories and pumps. For the study the students were separated in an experimental and a control group.

At the beginning and at the end of the course, the students answered a survey (using a 5-point Likert scale) to determine their level of knowledge on the SDGs. Although both groups were taught by the same teacher, the experimental group was given a lecture, participated on a debate, and conducted an active-learning practice related to the SDGs, while the control group followed lectures with no mention of the SDGs. Moreover, at the end of the course, the performance of the experimental and control group was measured and compared. Additionally, the experimental group answered an additional survey to determine whether the lecture on the SDGs changed their perspective and increased their motivation to learn and work in the course. Results indicated that the knowledge in the SDGs increased in both groups (by solving the SDG-related problem), but the experimental group had a larger increase (due to the activities). Moreover, based on the survey answered by the experimental group, the knowledge of the SDGs increased the students’ motivation and improved their academic performance.

Finally, in addition to measuring the students’ opinion on the impact of the SDGs in their learning and their academic performance, an experience survey was answered anonymously (by both the control and experimental group) to determine whether the students liked the PBL methodology. Results were favorable, since more than 85% of the group liked being involved in a real-life engineering problem.

Keywords:

Higher Education, Sustainable Development Goals, Education in Chemical Engineering.