Curriculum driven classroom design

Classrooms and learning environments are almost as diverse as the curriculum that is taught in them. However, one thing that almost all classrooms have in common is that they are designed before the curriculum is developed. This leads to the design of common, generalized learning environments. These generalizations can lead to inconveniences in the classrooms, which cause deficiencies in learning. This problem is particularly true in engineering, where curriculum can be lecture based, design based, or project based. The goal with this project is to design a classroom and lab to fit the needs of specific undergraduate engineering curriculum. Allowing the classroom design to be driven by the curriculum that will eventually be taught there will result in a more efficient and effective learning environment. Current freshman engineering students in the existing labs were surveyed, and next year's freshman engineering students in the new lab will be surveyed to collect data about their experiences in the current learning environment. When the classroom construction is complete, a comparative analysis of the classroom dynamics both of the old and new classrooms will take place in order to determine the success of the work.