Using "beautiful homework solutions" to foster classroom interdependence

This paper describes the use of "beautiful homework" (BHW) solutions in the class ENGR 323: Probabilistic Analysis of Environmental Systems. Each week a different group of students is responsible to publish on the web an extensive set of solutions to the weekly homework assignment. These solutions must demonstrate multiple approaches and include explanations using words, mathematics and graphs. Instructors that are interested in increasing student interdependence or improving students' technical communication and computing skills in any course that requires homework may find this paper useful. In an informal survey, students identified the following courses that might use beautiful homework: statics, dynamics, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, mathematics, chemistry and mechanics and science of materials.