Development of challenge-based educational modules in the biotechnology domain

Biotechnology is one of the active domains in the NSF funded Engineering Research Center VaNTH (Vanderbilt, Northwestern, University of Texas, and Harvard/MIT) where educational modules have been developed. These modules cover a collection of challenges designed around bioreactors, mass and momentum transfer issues, microbial kinetics, and downstream processing, which are among core biotechnology topics. The aim of this study was to design educational modules centered on challenge-based education and to implement them in classroom settings. This paper focuses on the design and implementation of such educational modules and provides an overview of the challenges and learning activities that were developed for three specific topics that have been implemented at Northwestern and Vanderbilt Universities.