Abstract:

The continuous learning process can be enhanced by the use of a specific textbook, especially during the first years of the Bachelors. In this regard, two years ago, it was published a textbook on basic concepts in Chemical Engineering.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the scores of students in two courses: the first year of Bachelor of Chemical Engineering and the second year of Bachelor of Chemistry at the University of Barcelona, during the academic years 2010-2011 and 2011-2012.
The book used in this study has been recently published by Editorial Reverté (ISBN: 9788429171853) with the title: “Introducción a la Ingeniería Química: Problemas resueltos de Balances de Materia y Energía”. Each chapter has an introduction to the basic concepts used in the representative problems that are solved then step by step and in detail. The book has a total of 70 solved problems.
The Chemical Engineering students say that the book has been very helpful in their learning. A favorable response was also obtained with Chemistry students. All of these responses were obtained through the University's official surveys.
In the 2009-2010 academic year, the 23% of students who sat for the final examination on "Chemical Engineering" passed the subject. However, only 50% of registered students showed up to the final test. In the 2010-2011 academic year, the first year of use the book, the 23% of students who sat for the final examination on "Chemical Engineering" passed the subject, but in this case 70% of registered students showed up to the final test. Therefore, in this academic course, there was many more approved. In the 2011-2012 academic year, the second year of use the book, the 53% of students who sat for the final examination passed the subject, but now 90% of registered students showed up to the final test.
The results indicate that the use of this book has become an important tool to achieve good results in learning the Basics of Chemical Engineering.
The use of the book in the subject of Chemical Engineering in the Chemical Bachelor has yielded similar results.
In the 2010-2011 academic year, the first year of use the book, the 54% of students who sat for the final examination on "Chemical Engineering" passed the subject. In this course 80% of registered students showed up to the final test. In the 2011-2012 academic year, the second year of use the book, the 65% of students who sat for the final examination passed the subject, but now 95% of registered students showed up to the final test. Again using the book has become a decisive factor in improving the number of students passing the subject.
The success of the book lies in its structure. Each chapter contains a brief introduction to the basic concepts and continues with a representative collection of solved problems in detail. We believe that this scheme can be extrapolated to other scientific and technical courses in order to improve learning outcomes.

Keywords:

Chemical engineering fundamentals, mass balance, energy balance, chemical reactors, mechanical energy balance.