Application and Reflection on a Fuel Cell Thermodynamics Laboratory to Support Translation of Knowledge for Engineering Students
Practical laboratories are a critical part of engineering education for connecting theory to practice. However, translation of knowledge between contexts is an area students find challenging. Supporting this skill requires strategies embedded throughout lab design. How students translate knowledge in labs across different tasks and contexts is not well understood.
This conference paper presents a redesign of a Fuel Cell Thermodynamics lab for engineering students. This interdisciplinary lab integrates thermodynamics and electrical knowledge, requiring students to translate concepts across multiple contexts. Teaching team reflections were analysed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis and reveal that, while students are able to recall knowledge, they can struggle adapting to specific contexts across both procedural and analytical tasks. Visualisations can help scaffold knowledge translation but do not address conceptual gaps in prior knowledge. The lab design must ensure a strong conceptual baseline before undertaking tasks and explicitly scaffold knowledge translation throughout.
Authors
J. L. Rowlandson, A. Hales, A. Rageh and M. S. Donkor
Institution/Funder Name
School of Electrical, Electronic, and Mechanical Engineering, University of Bristol