Surveying Student's Preferences on Alternative Approaches for Learning Activities (original) (raw)
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The Student-Centered Activities for Large Enrollment Undergraduate Programs (SCALE-UP) approach to instructional design was adapted with the goal of delivering more effective statics, dynamics and multivariate calculus instruction and integrated course curricula. Inquiry-based learning exercises were designed, incorporating material from statics and dynamics into multivariable calculus, and vice-versa, as well as integrating statics and dynamics into one course. The effectiveness of the revised course designs and activities were assessed using a mixed method approach. Student performance in these courses and in follow-on courses was used to measure improvements in concept retention. Conceptual tests (Statics and Dynamics Concept Inventories) were administered before and after semesters, and average normalized gains were compared with those for students in traditional learning environments.
Design based learning comparative effects on high school students’ interest in engineering
Discussion regarding the introduction of engineering into the pre-college classrooms has been advancing and several countries have already started integrated engineering related material, usually through technology, science or computer science courses. A number of important questions emerge around engineering curriculum and pedagogical fidelity, namely, how is content presented, how is it integrated within current educational practices, and how are student dispositions towards engineering content and the profession impacted? Design Based Learning (DBL) seems to be an approach that addresses both the content and the professional aspect of this discussion. It has been argued that following a cyclical design process may assist students in developing cognitive engineering related skills. Regarding motivational effects and interest in the engineering profession, DBL appears to have a positive affect as well [1]. This is a comparative qualitative phenomenological study. The population includes 83 total students, 43 female and 40 male, attending 4 classrooms in the last grade in a public gymnasium, which is the equivalent of a 9th grade. Students in two of the four classrooms followed a standard teacher-oriented computer science (CS) course, whereas the other two received the same content while participating in a computer design project. Qualitative analysis of questionnaires completed by students indicated that those who followed the standard teacher-oriented CS course did not demonstrate significant change in either their motivation towards the content, or towards the profession. Review of students who followed the design project approach revealed that 70% of the students that had a negative disposition towards the content changed their answer to positive, while all students that had a positive disposition towards the content retained it. Regarding their motivation towards the profession, no significant difference was demonstrated in the student’s answers. Analysis of open ended questions posed to the students, and factors that appeared to influence their motivation towards content and profession are also discussed in the paper
staff.ui.ac.id
Maintaining the correlation between profession and education should be the major concern of engineering education in facing the challenge of the 21 st Century. Problem-based learning (PBL), a well-established learning approach in higher education, integrates professional practice into education. Despite some drawbacks in the implementation of PBL the approach showed potential in maintaining the integration between engineering profession and education. This paper deals with the students' perspective of the learning process in a project-based Engineering Design Class within the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department at the University of Indonesia. The study was particularly aimed at investigating whether the purposes or intended outcomes of PBL were achieved. Results indicate that bottom up approach in establishing the problem as well as the provision of learning resources has significantly increase the pre-conditions of learning. Despite the achievement of PBL outcomes enhanced from 74.09% to 75.25%, particular attention should be given to self-directed learning cycle that was consistently the lowest aspect measured in study. Moreover, it was learned that a significant increase in the pre-conditions of learning experienced by students did not inevitably followed by a corresponding increase in PBL outcomes achievement. The drawback was likely related to the defficiency of student's self-directed learning capacity as indicated by the corresponding measured scale.
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XXIV Chilean Congress of Engineering Education. Austral University of Chile., 2010
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The renovation of teaching and learning methodologies, promoted by the onset of the Bologna Declaration, is leading to shifting perceptions of roles and responsibilities of both teachers and students. Particularly in large engineering classes, certain subjects benefit from more active approaches to learning, namely those associated with team work and tutorial practices, rather than traditional lecture/teacher-driven presentations. Project-led education (PLE) and Project/problem-based learning (PBL) are successful studentcentred teaching strategies by directing team work towards independent learning. These new approaches transfer the teacher's role from a mere transmitter of knowledge to that of advisor and facilitator of the learning process, by providing guidance and suggestions designed to encourage students to find their own solutions for proposed problems. This paper describes a methodology for promoting and encouraging independent team work using tutorial techniques for the practical sessions of the Environmental Impact Assessment course (mandatory and elective) included in the Civil Engineering programme at the University of Minho. The authors were faced with a multifaceted problem: managing and motivating a large class of civil engineering students in a transdisciplinary and non-traditional civil engineering setting. So, they decided to implement a project-based strategy aiming to foster the development and enhancement of student ´skills and aptitudes. The learning objectives were welldefined, as well as a set of pre-scheduled tutorial meetings for team work monitoring and assessment. The overall project goal was to conduct a critical analysis of one or more cases concerning environmental impact assessment, in view of the concepts apprehended in lecture and through literature review of pertinent documents and applicable regulations. The students were pleased with the requirement to use and critically analyse procedural documents and regulations, favouring a broader understanding of the subject. The opportunity to study and analyse real cases was referred as a particularly positive aspect of this methodology, which allowed for another learning dimension towards the development of professional competencies. At the end of the semester and upon submitting the final written report, each student was required to conduct a simple exercise of self and peer-assessment. The results of the Teaching/Learning Evaluation institutional survey were used to determine how successful the implementation of the new EIA course design had been, and, overall, both instructors and students considered the implemented methodology to be positive and suitable. The ability to conduct independent work and the freedom to manage their own work schedules were particularly appreciated, especially by students with heavier workloads from other courses. The experience described represents a significant move towards innovative approaches for handling and motivating large engineering classes in a transdisciplinary context, by encouraging active and collaborative learning activities, and by leading with real-world problems.
Special session — Assessing student learning of engineering design
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Design is a central aspect of engineering and engineering education, but is challenging to teach and even more challenging to assess. In this special session participants co-construct an understanding of design and what aspects of design should be (and can be) assessed. Additionally, the special session will review the instrument development process (including the process of validating instruments) and will provide examples of existing instruments for assessing learners' understanding of design. These instruments measure a variety of topics and concepts related to design, have been designed for many different audiences and have been developed for different purposes. This session will equip educators with tools that are useful for assessing and promoting students' understanding of design. Additionally, this session may benefit educators and researchers interested in adopting or adapting design assessments for use with K-12 populations.
Application of Student-Centered Activities Among Engineering Students in the New Norm of Learning
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This action research aimed to implement the blended learning modality through student-centred activity in the new normal of the engineering department of the Cavite State University – CCAT Campus. The study utilized quasi-experimental research design. Inferential and observation design were utilized to augment and support the research design findings. The Center for Educational Effectiveness at the University of California, Davis, provided the researchers with the checklists, questionnaires with Likert scales, and field and observation notes. Results showed that there was significant difference among the means observed as caused by the intervention. The action research concluded that there is an increase in student’ cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains after the intervention, and the research identified that asynchronous classes and time management allotted for students were the critical challenges.
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We have been engaged in a large-scale study funded by the National Science Foundation (U.S.) that seeks to understand the relationships between college engineering students' ways of learning and their success in a traditional first-year engineering curriculum. A research team has investigated the learning preferences and study habits of approximately 1,000 first-year engineering students at a large, research-oriented, public university in the United States. A battery of learning style inventories, surveys and questionnaires, and weekly journal-like responses to focused questions provides the basis for correlations between these dimensions of students' experience, their academic success as measured in grade point average, and retention. Focus-group interviews with randomly selected participants have provided qualitative exploration of the statistical results. The results of the study have pointed to specific, identifiable groups of students who are at risk within the engineering curriculum as it is currently structured. These students stand out not because of any intellectual failures but because certain aspects of their learning styles and behaviors are not conducive to the instructional methods and paradigms to which they are exposed. Not surprisingly, the study also confirmed that the quality of the employed study habits impacts the success of students in general but also within each learning style.
Design-Based Learning in Engineering Education
Design-based Concept Learning in Science and Technology Education. BRILL-SENSE Publications., 2021
Design-Based Learning (DBL) is an educational approach applied in higher engineering education in order to gain knowledge while engaging students in open-ended, hands-on and authentic engineering problem-solving tasks. Grounded in the theoretical underpinnings of active learning methods such as problem-based learning, inquiry and discovery learning, DBL involves students in critical thinking: the learning of concepts and understanding of ideas by analyzing multiple routes in order to apply knowledge while creating engineering solutions. The engineering design process encourages students to explore and experiment and to analyze, abstract and synthesize data so that the meaning of concepts can be constructed, and new insights can be applied iteratively to generate new knowledge. Design-Based Learning has been applied in four bachelor’s projects of the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering and the effects on students’ performances in problem-solving have been investigated. The results have indicated that DBL features such as project characteristics, design elements and coaching are crucial when it comes to supporting students in gaining and applying knowledge in the design of artifacts and engineering solutions.