USING A BOOK OF CASE STUDIES TO OPTIMIZE LEARNING OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING FUNDAMENTALS ON DIFFERENT GRADUATE DEGREES

Teaching in the first courses of graduate studies should be based on solid educational resources to assist in the learning process of students. In this regard, it has experienced in teaching Basic Fundamentals of Chemical Engineering by following a textbook in theoretical and practical classes. The book employed in this new teaching experience during the academic courses 2009-10 and 2010-11, which was recently published by Editorial Reverte (ISBN: 9788429171853) under the title Introduction to Chemical Engineering: Solved Problems on Mass and Energy Balances. It consists of 4 chapters and encompassing a total of 70 fully worked (step-by-step) solved problems. The theoretical basis of the subject is outlined at the beginning of every chapter and each problem is followed by a fully detailed (step-by-step) solution. The nomenclature and references cited throughout the text are indicated at the end of the corresponding chapter. The authors have received very positive feedback from graduate students that have used the book so far, which suggests that it is a useful, valuable, novel and pedagogic contribution to the Chemical Engineering teaching and, particularly, to the Fundamentals of the Chemical Engineering subject for graduate studies in Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Biotechnology and other university degrees where Science and Chemical Technology play an important role.