Practical Example of Engineering Education that Deal with Living Thing at KIT

Hirama and Yanagibashi Lab of KIT (Kanazawa Institute of Technology, private, in Japan) have been engaged in study activities that deal with living things such as mushrooms, plants and insects for many years although the Labs belong to Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. In this paper, actual annual study activities of a college senior in the Lab is introduced in detail and effects of dealing living things in engineering education is evaluated. The student investigated for effective mushroom cultivation environment condition based on CDIO initiative as a joint study with a mushroom production company. The student deepened his knowledge about mushrooms and other general living things through literature research and internships at the company, conceived experimental methods, designed some experimental equipment, implemented experimental data acquisition, and fed back the results to the company for efficient operation. These practical purposes series activities had contributed to development of his knowledge and skills precisely. In addition, dealing living things in the study of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering made the student realize that his major could be useful for something familiar and engineering has a great impact on life, and these further exited his interest totally. Based on the case study and questionnaire surveys to all students in the Lab, it was concluded that engineering education that deal with living thing was meaningful.