CDIO and the Liverpool Constructionarium

The Constructionarium initiative can be classified as the implement section of the conceive, design, implement, operate (CDIO) innovative educational framework for civil engineering students. CDIO is an international learning and teaching initiative which is based on the principle of embedding active learning into engineering education at all levels. The Constructionarium provides a practical construction experience for various civil engineering structures such as a gravity concrete oil rig, a cable-stayed steel bridge, a transmission tower, a subway entrance hall and a clay core dam, all at a reduced scale. Students are required to follow the same professional and health and safety procedures that a construction contractor follows on a real construction project. A collaborating construction contractor and a design consultant offer close supervision, support and guidance for all site activities, typically covering preparation of method statements, risk assessments, construction planning, costing, setting-out, use of construction tools, and so on. The Constructionarium is a concentrated learning week for students for which there is no other equivalent replacement activity. In this paper, the Liverpool Constructionarium is presented in detail, including pre-Constructionarium preparation, learning objectives, running projects, associated problems and learning outcomes. In addition the results from pre- and post-Constructionarium questionnaires are presented to show measurement of learning outcomes from student feedback.