Abstract:

Higher Education institutions must be on the forefront of the Sustainable development goals. It is important to made student aware of their role in the way to reach the sustainable development goals. With this objective “Building sustainability: toward more sustainable infrastructure and building” project was developed. In the context of this project, the subject “Technology of Structures II”, belonging to the 3rd academic year of the Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering at Bilbao School of Engineering (University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU), was modify with the aim that students could learn how to design sustainable structures.
For that purpose, the analysis of the Annex 2 of the Structural Code has been included as an additional lecture, so that students can learn to calculate the so-called “Structure Contribution Index to Sustainability”.
Project based learning methodology has been used, so a simple but real concrete structure has been completely designed, i.e., beams, columns and different types of foundations subjected to loads defined by the Structural Code. Once the design was completed and the geometrical dimensions of the structural elements were selected and verified, the students had to calculate de Structure Contribution Index to Sustainability, explaining the strategy they were going to accomplish.
When the course ended, an anonymous survey among students was done to obtain a feedback about the work they had been developed. In general, students’ opinion is very positive. Also, better academic results and comprehension of the subject have been observed by the professors, being a good experience. The negative side of these changes have been the attitude of some students, and the increase workload for the professors.

Keywords:

Project based learning, sustainable development goals, structures design, sustainability.