Teaching Geotechnical Engineering through Murder Mystery Problem Solving

Engineering courses taught in a traditional lecture-based format often are perceived as difficult by students because they struggle to understand the concepts and perform well on the assessments. Attempts to address these issues by using innovative active-learning methods have shown promising outcomes, but limited institutional resources and the lack of familiarity with alternative pedagogies impose limitations on the scalability and acceptance of these innovations. To overcome these challenges, this study investigated the potential of partial incorporation of problem-based learning (PBL) methods using case studies of real-world engineering failures in a large geotechnical engineering course. It adopted a quasi-experimental and repeated measure design to compare both learning and attitudinal outcomes between students in two different sections of the course—one section utilized the traditional lecture-based methods (the comparison group), and the other section utilized case studies as the primary pedagogical approach (referred to as the Murder Mystery approach). Quantitative analysis demonstrated the comparative advantage of using the Murder Mystery approach over the traditional lecture-based teaching methods on both cognitive and affective student learning outcomes. Results show that, compared with students in the comparison section, students taught using the Murder Mystery approach performed significantly better on the final exams. Additionally, they perceived the course to be relatively less difficult by the end of the semester, retained interest in the subject over the course of the semester, and also increased their confidence. Introducing elements of active-learning methods, such as PBL and case studies, in otherwise instructor-centered classes therefore is recommended to improve students’ overall engineering learning experience and the conceptual understanding.