Learning by doing: Chem-E-Car® motivating experience

Abstract

Since 2013 a group of professors from the Chemical Engineering Department of Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) has implemented a teaching tool based on the concept of "learning by doing" that has been successfully used in the US to increase motivation of students. This tool consists of a competition, called Chem-E-Car (R), which helps to teach not only specific, but also transversal competences of the undergraduate students. They have to design, build and move a car controlled by a chemical reaction that it has to travel a specified distance while carrying a certain amount of water. The Chem-E-Car (R) World Competition took place at the 10th World Congress of Chemical Engineering, in 2017, and the students'team from UCM presented a Chem-E-Car (R) moved by a battery based on an oxidation-reduction reaction and stopped by means of an iodine timer. It has been the first time that UCM has competed and the first time that the competition has taken place in Spain. Chem-E-Car (R) has contributed to develop both the application of Chemical Engineering knowledge and professional skills. Chem-E-Car (R) project has allowed the students to incorporate new abilities, such as team-working, leading, facing personal and professional troubles, interpreting and applying rules, project management and safety hazards.