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Sample Proposal: Quantitative Reasoning

College of Engineering

Please direct all questions about the flag proposal process to the Center for the Skills & Experience Flags.

ARE 371 Energy Simulation in Building Design

Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering

Please give a brief description of the course. Include a description of the specific Quantitative Reasoning skills that students will learn and apply within this course.

Students learn how to analyze different heat and moisture transfer problems in building elements, generate physical model using fundamentals of heat and mass transfer, and convert physical model into mathematical model. When considering specific quantitative skills, students lean how to use discretization to transform differential equations into ordinary equation and solve systems of linear and nonlinear equations.

Courses that carry the Quantitative Reasoning Flag must emphasize how QR skills can be applied in students’ everyday or professional lives. Please describe the kinds of applications the course uses to teach Quantitative Reasoning. Specific examples from assignments or exams are strongly encouraged.

Students evaluate the performance of building envelope and environmental systems considering energy consumption in buildings. They use energy simulations in life-cycle cost analyses for selection of building components.

Courses that carry the Quantitative Reasoning Flag go beyond a superficial application of equations and strive for understanding of the underlying concepts. Please describe how you teach and assess conceptual understanding of Quantitative Reasoning. Specific examples from class, assignments, or exams are strongly encouraged.

In four homework assignments students learn how to generate physical and mathematical models and apply numerical methods for solving system of equations generated in this modeling process. In two class projects, student perform parametric analyses to evaluate the effects of design choices and operational strategies of building systems on building energy use. Project 1 assignments is provided as an example and it is uploaded under “Other Supporting Documents.”

To satisfy the Quantitative Reasoning Flag, at least half of the course grade must be based on the use of quantitative skills. Please describe the course grading scheme in such a way that clearly demonstrates at least half of the grade requires Quantitative Reasoning. Denote which components require Quantitative Reasoning and the total grade percentage these comprise.

The flowing assignments count for 70% of the final grade and they are all based on Quantitative Reasoning: – Homework Assignments (30% of final grade) – Midterm Project (10% of final grade) -Final Project (30% of final grade).