ZEM House zero-emissions demonstration house multidisciplinary capstone project¶
Design · All designs
Evidence · 6 claims (3 for, 1 mixed, 2 against) · 1 study (1 design),q2· 1 of 1 report an effect size · 6 claims rest on one study
Description¶
The ZEM House was "a 100-square-ft demonstration house that emits no greenhouse gases during operation," designed in fall 2010 by students from five disciplines and built and tested in spring 2011. Subprojects covered public policy, HVAC/structure, economic feasibility, user needs, and the photovoltaic energy system. The project generated campus contest placements, a conference presentation, gallery exhibition, and finalist status in the EDF Sustainable Design Challenge in Paris.
Design Implications¶
Context¶
Requirements¶
- Disciplinary subprojects assigned across the five participating disciplines
- Shared supervision and facilities across co-instructed courses
Constraints¶
- The 100-square-ft footprint was a self-imposed constraint to increase campus build-site options
Target Learners¶
- senior capstone students in engineering, industrial design, business, and political science
Learning Goals¶
- sustainable design
- multidisciplinary collaboration
Claims¶
- Multidisciplinary co-instructed capstone subprojects outperformed traditional disciplinary projects in 4 of 5 courses [+W]
- No significant self-reported learning-gain differences between ZEM and non-ZEM students [-W]
- ZEM students rated instruction quality and helpfulness significantly lower than control in fall, but not spring [-W]
- Disciplinary lectures gave limited knowledge gains: ZEM post-test higher (p = 0.004, EF = 0.58), but ANCOVA only approached significance [+W]
- Project satisfaction strongly positively correlated with instruction ratings (0.50 < r < 0.70) [+W]
- Learning-preference differences by discipline: political science students least interested in project-based classes [~W]
Related Designs¶
Examples¶
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Key Sources¶
- Rhee, J., Oyamot, C., Parent, D., Speer, L., Basu, A., & Gerston, L. (2014). A Case Study of a Co-instructed Multidisciplinary Senior Capstone Project in Sustainability. Advances in Engineering Education. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
design |
id |
zem-house-zero-emissions-capstone-project |
title |
ZEM House zero-emissions demonstration house multidisciplinary capstone project |
description |
The ZEM House was "a 100-square-ft demonstration house that emits no greenhouse gases during operation," designed in fall 2010 by students from five disciplines and built and tested in spring 2011. |
status |
review |
generated |
by process:settle-candidates on 2026-11-03 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — rhee-2014 |
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