Project-based learning (PBL) involves students designing, developing, and constructing hands-on solutions to a problem. The educational value of PBL is that it aims to build students’ creative capacity to work through difficult or ill-structured problems, commonly in small teams. Typically, PBL takes students through the following phases or steps:
Identifying a problem
Agreeing on or devising a solution and potential solution path to the problem (i.e., how to achieve the solution)
Designing and developing a prototype of the solution
Refining the solution based on feedback from experts, instructors, and/or peers
Depending on the goals of the instructor, the size and scope of the project can vary greatly. Students may complete the four phases listed above over the course of many weeks, or even several times within a single class period.
Because of its focus on creativity and collaboration, PBL is enhanced when students experience opportunities to work across disciplines, employ technologies to make communication and product realization more efficient, or to design solutions to real-world problems posed by outside organizations or corporations. Projects do not need to be highly complex for students to benefit from PBL techniques. Often times, quick and simple projects are enough to provide students with valuable opportunities to make connections across content and practice. Implementing Project-Based Learning
As a pedagogical approach, PBL entails several key processes: (1) defining problems in terms of given constraints or challenges, (2) generating multiple ideas to solve a given problem, (3) prototyping — often in rapid iteration — potential solutions to a problem, and (4) testing the developed solution products or services in a “live” or authentic setting.
Defining the Problem
PBL projects should start with students asking questions about a problem. What is the nature of problem they are trying to solve? What assumptions can they make about why the problem exists? Asking such questions will help students frame the problem in an appropriate context. If students are working on a real-world problem, it is important to consider how an end user will benefit from a solution.
Generating Ideas
Next, students should be given the opportunity to brainstorm and discuss their ideas for solving the problem. The emphasis here is not to generate necessarily good ideas, but to generate many ideas. As such, brainstorming should encourage students to think wildly, but to stay focused on the problem. Setting guidelines for brainstorming sessions, such as giving everyone a chance to voice an idea, suspending judgement of others’ ideas, and building on the ideas of others will help make brainstorming a productive and generative exercise.
Prototyping Solutions
Designing and prototyping a solution are typically the next phase of the PBL process.
2. Outline
• Why we should know PBL
• Essentials of PBL
• PBL in Civil Engineering
• Sustainable Development Goals
• SDG 6 (Water)
• Innovative Projects and Ideas
• Projects and Startup related to WATER
• Upcoming Conferences related to WATER
4. Project-based learning
Project-based learning (PBL) is a student
centered pedagogy that involves a dynamic
classroom approach in which it is believed
that students acquire a deeper knowledge
through active exploration of real-world
challenges and problems. (Wikipedia definition)
7. Sustainable Development Goals
The Report highlights the severity and magnitude of the challenges before us.
The confluence of crises, dominated by COVID-19, climate change, and
conflicts, are creating spin-off impacts on food and nutrition, health,
education, the environment, and peace and security, and affecting all the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
29. Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable
management of water and sanitation for all
Goal 6
6.1
Drinking
Water
6.2
Sanitation
and Hygiene
6.3
Water
quality
6.4
Water-use
Efficiency
6.5
Water
resource
managem
ent
6.6
Eco-
systems
Means of Implementation
6.A
International
cooperation
and capacity
development
6.B
Local
participation
30. PBL Lab
Sl
No
PBL Week 1 Week 2 Week 3
1 Pervious concrete as a
sustainable material
Data
Collection &
Explore
Investigation &
Theoretical
Background
Application
2 Start-up Related to
Solid Waste
Management
3 Start-up Related To
Water Resources
Management
4 Home for Homeless
5 Geo-spatial Start up
36. Start-up Related To WRM
• FLUID – Smart Water Metering
• Compared to their conventional counterparts, smart water meters possess
a vast array of benefits, including leak detection and prevention, energy
reduction, real-time information disclosure, higher precision, as well as a
description of water consumption patterns. Besides, wireless networking
and two-way remote communications with a local utility eliminate the
need for any manual checks as well as reflect relevant and accurate online
data 24/7. US-based FLUID develops and manufactures ultrasonic smart
water meters, which enable intelligent alarms and have no moving parts,
thus, they are unaffected by wear and tear. The peculiarity of this solution
implies an easy clamping-on of the meter without a plumber. In addition,
it allows setting water goals and receiving insights about water usage
habits in order to learn more and increase savings.
37. Start-up Related To WRM
• Lishtot – Drinking Water Quality Control
• Maintaining a high quality of potable water is one of the sustainability
challenges nowadays and it poses many doubts. Advanced control and
testing devices enable smart city residents to get their drinking water’s
safety checked based on various important parameters, e.g, conductivity,
pH, temperature, or chemical properties to increase awareness and health
confidence. Israeli startup Lishtot offers a “testing as a service” solution
named TestDrop Pro. This portable device utilizes differential signaling in
an electrical circuit that assists in accurate detecting of various
contaminants, heavy metals, chemicals and bacteria at different levels of
purity. Furthermore, the app presents immediate results, as opposed to
lab testing.
38. Start-up Related To WRM
• Elentec – Onsite Wastewater Reuse
• Mass amounts of effluent disposal in many parts of the globe bring
attention to the question of water onsite reuse cycle in smart cities.
Wastewater recycling and polishing removes all contaminants from
residential sewage and industrial waters, includes primary, secondary or
tertiary stages of purification, and returns water back in the system for
groundwater restoring or onsite reuse in agriculture and industry.
British Elentec facilitates the implementation of electro-coagulation (EC)
in secondary wastewater treatment and tertiary polishing, which proves to
produce less footprint, be more safe and stable, compared to traditional
chemical reclamation. Its off-the-grid and modular reactors are mostly
applied in the following industries: automotive, municipal sewage,
aquaculture, mining, brewing, dairy, etc.
39. Start-up Related To WRM
• WaterGen – Atmospheric Water Generation (AWG)
• Atmospheric water generation systems are a new technology trend called
to increase drinking water supply in the world and, especially, in
indigenous and water-scarce communities. Typical AWGs convert rain, fog,
dew, vapor, and natural air humidity into potable water by continuously
replicating a natural process of condensation and carefully storing the
outcome. Originating from Israel, WaterGen and its heat-exchange GENius
technology provide a room for more cost-efficiency, that is, generating
clean water at relatively low energy usage (250Wh per liter) at affordable
prices (around 2 cents per liter). The company manufactures scalable
AGW products to meet various needs: from a separate household to big
smart cities.
40. Start-up Related To WRM
• WaterFX – Eco-Friendly Desalination
• High salinity water treatment is also a crucial trend towards tackling a
water scarcity problem in smart cities, increasing freshwater coverage and
pursuing zero liquid discharge. As usual, desalination of the sea or brackish
waters requires substantial amounts of energy and powerful brine
disposal facilities. In contrast to traditional practices, eco-friendly
desalination focuses on advanced evaporation with the use of
renewables. WaterFX, a startup from the USA, addresses these challenges
based on solar energy, which ensures lower operation costs and larger
amounts of freshwater received. The company’s solutions spread over the
treatment of seawater, groundwater, and impaired salty waters, leaving no
liquid byproducts. Besides, WaterFX introduced a beta-version of LQUID, a
decentralized platform for desalinated water trade and analytics.
41. 1 Project
• The Indian Rivers Inter-link is a
proposed large-scale civil
engineering project that aims
to effectively manage water
resources in India by
linking Indian rivers by a
network of reservoirs and
canals to enhance
irrigation and groundwater
recharge, reduce persistent
floods in some parts
and water shortages in other
parts of India.
42. • Water and adaptation to climate change
• Impacts of climate change and variability on transboundary basins are evident in many regions
in the world and increasing floods and droughts pose a challenge to water managers around
the globe. Transboundary cooperation in adaptation is necessary to prevent maladaptation and
increase the overall effectiveness of adaptation. The Water Convention and its Task Force on
Water and Climate, led by the Netherlands and Switzerland, support countries in developing
transboundary adaptation strategies and implementation of priority adaptation measures
though guidance, projects on the ground and exchange of experience.
2 Project
43. 3 Project
Predictions in Ungauged Basins (PUB) was an IAHS initiative operating
throughout the decade of 2003-2012, established with the primary aim
of reducing uncertainty in hydrological predictions.
44. 4 Project
The general objective of this Sao Paulo Water Quality and Pollution Control Project is
to assist Brazil in developing a cost-effective approach to control water pollution. The
project also proposes policy and institutional reforms which minimize allocative
distortions. The project consists of investments and institutional support for two water
pollution control components covering water basins in two of the most congested and
polluted metropolitan areas in Brazil