CEE 176P: Tool School: Hands-on Construction Lessons

Course Description

Most civil engineers never have to execute the work they design. The main objective of this experiential learning course is to give engineering students a taste of what construction workers do in the field and what challenges could be avoided through engineering for buildability. Students will gain empathy and respect for workers by getting their own hands dirty. This course is inspired by multiple conversations with workers who wished that engineers would be required to put on a toolbelt for the day. Some potential classes: shadowing workers at on-campus construction sites, exchanging buildability ideas with construction workers, learning basic skills from diVerent trades, collaborating with the Stanford Product Realization Lab to attempt to build student designs, volunteering at Habitat for Humanity to practice some basic construction skills, collaborating with union apprenticeship programs to socialize with and learn alongside construction apprentices This class would most benefit students with little or no experience using tools.