17-2051.00 · Learning planner
Civil Engineers: a task-based learning plan
Perform engineering duties in planning, designing, and overseeing construction and maintenance of building structures and facilities, such as roads, railroads, airports, bridges, harbors, channels, dams, irrigation projects, pipelines, power plants, and water and sewage systems.
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Understand the profile before choosing priorities
The table shows the ten highest importance ratings among 33 skills with usable ratings. Skills tied on importance can share a rank. Importance (1–5) and level (0–7) describe different dimensions. A level of 4 is not 4/7 of a course, and neither scale is your personal score. Source dates refer to the underlying rating, not the database release date.
| Skill | Importance / 5 | Level / 7 | Rating date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active Listening | 4.00 | 4.00 | 08/2021 · Analyst |
| Reading Comprehension | 3.88 | 5.00 | 08/2021 · Analyst |
| Mathematics | 3.88 | 4.75 | 08/2021 · Analyst |
| Critical Thinking | 3.88 | 4.62 | 08/2021 · Analyst |
| Complex Problem Solving | 3.88 | 4.12 | 08/2021 · Analyst |
| Speaking | 3.88 | 3.88 | 08/2021 · Analyst |
| Systems Analysis | 3.75 | 4.12 | 08/2021 · Analyst |
| Science | 3.75 | 4.00 | 08/2021 · Analyst |
| Time Management | 3.75 | 4.00 | 08/2021 · Analyst |
| Operations Analysis | 3.62 | 4.50 | 08/2021 · Analyst |
Anchor the plan in an actual task
Choose one reported task you want to understand better. Then choose one to three skills and describe an appropriate learning activity, evidence you will review and a date. For practical work requiring authorization, choose relevant coursework, observation or supervised training.
Active Listening
Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for civil engineers.
Level 4: Answer inquiries regarding credit references
Level 2: Take a customer's order
What would you ask the other person to clarify, and how would you confirm you understood?
Reading Comprehension
Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for civil engineers.
Level 4: Understand an email from management describing new personnel policies
Level 6: Read a scientific journal article describing surgical procedures
Which instruction, constraint or exception in a document would you need to explain accurately?
Mathematics
Using mathematics to solve problems.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for civil engineers.
Level 4: Calculate the square footage of a new home under construction
Level 6: Develop a mathematical model to simulate and resolve an engineering problem
Which quantities, units, denominator and rounding rules would need an explicit check?
Critical Thinking
Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for civil engineers.
Level 4: Evaluate customer complaints and determine appropriate responses
Level 6: Write legal brief challenging a federal law
What assumption could change your conclusion, and what evidence would you check first?
Complex Problem Solving
Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for civil engineers.
Level 4: Redesign a floor layout to take advantage of new manufacturing techniques
Level 6: Develop a plan to provide emergency relief for a major metropolitan area
How would you separate the problem into parts and compare possible explanations?
Speaking
Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for civil engineers.
Level 4: Interview applicants to obtain personal and work history
Level 2: Greet tourists and explain tourist attractions
How would you explain the task, audience needs and next step in a short conversation?
Systems Analysis
Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for civil engineers.
Level 4: Determine how a new piece of equipment will affect production rates
Level 6: Identify how changes in tax laws affect locations of manufacturing operations
What inputs, outputs and dependencies would you map before proposing a change?
Science
Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for civil engineers.
Level 4: Conduct product tests to ensure safety standards are met
Level 2: Conduct standard tests to determine soil quality
What observation or comparison would help you test an explanation, and what would remain uncertain?
Time Management
Managing one's own time and the time of others.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for civil engineers.
Level 4: Allocate the time of subordinates to projects for the coming week
Level 2: Keep a monthly calendar of appointments
What needs to happen first, where is the deadline, and what would you do if time runs short?
Operations Analysis
Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
Read the scale examples
These generic examples illustrate the level scale. They are not required activities for civil engineers.
Level 4: Suggest changes in software to make a system more user friendly
Level 6: Identify the control system needed for a new process production plant
Which requirements and constraints must a solution meet before options are compared?
Review the result
Your plan should explain why the selected skills matter for your chosen task, what you will do next and what evidence you will examine. Revisit the plan after that activity. Completing a worksheet or matching an occupation’s ratings does not establish professional competence.
Keep your worksheet
Download before leaving this page. Unsaved writing remains only in the page and is cleared on refresh. Notes and learning actions are not sent to a server. This guide describes an occupation and supports study planning; it does not provide clinical, legal or equipment-operating procedures.
Source and practice material
Occupational context uses the O*NET® 31.0 Database from the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, under CC BY 4.0. View the occupation.
Skill Workbench selected and adapted the occupational information and added its own fictional cases, calculations, guidance and worksheets. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed or tested these additions. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.