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Impact of In-Class Demonstration on Student Performance in an Introductory Thermodynamics Course

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Conference

2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Minneapolis, MN

Publication Date

August 23, 2022

Start Date

June 26, 2022

End Date

June 29, 2022

Conference Session

Mechanical Engineering: Demos and Interactives

Page Count

14

DOI

10.18260/1-2--40790

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/40790

Download Count

296

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Paper Authors

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Haejune Kim Texas A&M University

biography

Phapanin Charoenphol Texas A&M University

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Phapanin Charoenphol is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the J. Mike Walker ‘66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. She earned her M.S., and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She teaches thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, engineering laboratory, and senior design studio courses. Her research interests include engineering education and targeted drug delivery. In 2022, she was awarded the ASME Best Teacher Award and earned the ACUE Certificate in Effective College Instruction.

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Abstract

The traditional lecture-oriented classroom has shown poor student knowledge retention and engagement, especially in a large classroom setting. An in-class demonstration is widely recognized as an effective method to engage students in the subject matter. This study examined how in-class demonstrations play a role in students’ learning of undergraduate thermodynamics courses in mechanical engineering. Three demonstrations covering topics of energy conservation, property evaluation, and entropy were presented to a class. The modules were designed to demonstrate real-life examples for each course topic to promote student learning and engagement. After the demonstration, students were asked to discuss the topic as a group. The discussion questionnaires were developed to initiate discussions among students and help students gain conceptual understandings, reinforce ideas, and encourage students to think about various thermodynamics concepts creatively through real-world applications. After the group discussion, students’ understanding was evaluated using several formative assessments. This study demonstrated that the in-class demonstrations significantly improved student performance for closed-book assessments. However, when the assessments were open-book, the in-class demonstration had no significant effect on the students’ performance regardless of the type of questions, e.g., multiple-choice, true or false, and fill-in-the-blank. Overall, students expressed positive learning experiences with the in-class demonstrations and indicated a need for similar demonstrations in other courses.

Kim, H., & Charoenphol, P. (2022, August), Impact of In-Class Demonstration on Student Performance in an Introductory Thermodynamics Course Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40790

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