Abstract:

The implementation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has realigned educational programs. There is therefore a need to adapt to the new student profiles. Knowledge is imparted over shorter periods of time and using innovative educational methodology.
The teaching of structural topics in engineering faculties has to adapt to these new teaching methodologies, without forgetting the final goal of preparing future professionals in the construction sector. In this research, the new methodologies are described in the context of a Bachelor thesis. The aim is to initiate the student in active learning, in accordance with the attitudes and skills needed to negotiate the Master’s studies and future professional activities.
The Bachelor thesis is assessed by a supervisor, who will guide the student in the preparation of the thesis. In this case, the analysis of a wooden bridge built was proposed, as a structural engineering problem, which also formed part of an annual competition organized by the university. A special characteristic of the bridge is that no additional load may be added to the structural components. The high level of interest expressed by the student should be underlined, who firstly characterized the material, by performing various tests and then prepared a Final Elements Method (FEM) model and finally a load test to adjust the model. The student had not used the FEM program before so the time spent on the whole process was extremely lengthy for both the student and the supervisor, nevertheless, a high level of satisfaction was reached in terms of the skills that the student acquired.

Keywords:

Active learning, bridges, scale models, Engineering, monitoring, structures.