Paper ID #12671Why Think about Learning? The Value of Reflective Learning in First YearEngineering DesignMrs. Natalie CT Van Tyne P.E., Colorado School of Mines Natalie Van Tyne is a Teaching Associate Professor at Colorado School of Mines, where she teaches first and second year engineering design as foundation courses for CSM’s thirteen undergraduate degree programs. She holds bachelors and masters degrees from Rutgers University, Lehigh University and Colorado School of Mines, and studies best practices in pedagogy, reflective learning and critical thinking as aids to enhanced student learning.Dr. M Brunhart-Lupo
, retain, andprepare students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields to addresschallenges facing the 21st Century. This paper describes a method for integrating behavioralinstinct learning modules into freshman engineering classes. The method includes an onlineinstinct assessment, in-class activities created to illustrate instinctive behavior related toengineering tasks, practicing awareness through class projects, and reflective writing toencourage students to critically think about this awareness for future classes, activities, andcareers. The effectiveness of the methods described herein will be evaluated through the use ofsurveys, reflective essays, and interviews with faculty and students. The assessments have
experience also asks the freshmen to consider diverse perspectives as theydesign for the targeted populations. The paper describes the project implementation and presentsresults from student reflections and from a survey. Lessons learned and recommendations forbest practices are also presented.Freshmen Year Context and ObjectivesDuring the 2010-2011 academic year the department of Mechanical Engineering at CaliforniaPolytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) began a process of redesigning thefreshmen year experience for its incoming Mechanical Engineering students. At Cal Polystudents enter the university with a declared major and begin taking major courses their firstquarter. The department is large, with 180-240 incoming freshmen
networkgame, to verify how a two-semester sequence may reflect on the quality of the final product.The students worked on a team to design and develop the software requirements and relateddocuments in addition to building the software. The objective of the demonstration to the freshmen class was twofold: (1) illustrate theprocess of software development comprising multiple stages over two semesters, and (2)outline typical game programming technology with the use of professional tools. Page 26.769.63.2 Detailed Project Descriptions The data acquisition and control projects were all developed in LabVIEW and focused on acompletely different kind of
2Presentations from Professional Engineers 5.59 1.11 2 Page 26.418.11Proposed Experimental ActivitiesIn this section, we propose six experimental activities to facilitate the growth of inclusiveengineering identities: student trading cards, egalitarian social norms, panel of professionalengineers, reflective writing assignments, examples of diversity benefiting engineering practice,and interactive theater sketch. We identified these activities based upon criteria for developingprofessional identities25, 26, review of literature, and student feedback from the surveys. Inselecting these activities we have sought to identify
competitiveness, economic prosperity, and security. Creativity isdefined by some cognitive researchers as the introduction of new variables, significant leaps,or novel connection, and is a process resulting in a novel products1,2. Torrance concludedthree characteristics of creativity: originality, idea fluency, and flexibility, and claimed thatevery person has his or her creativity and that creativity could be cultivated3. Amabileestablished a psychological model of creativity that includes four factors: intrinsicmotivation, domain knowledge, creative skills, and environment4. Metacognition refers to theawareness of and reflection on one’s learning process and is higher-order mental processes5,6.Metacognition includes making plans for learning and
repeated in ECS 101 in the Fall. For statistical analysis, data were lumpedinto two groups reflecting the cohorts before the course redesign (2011, 2012) and the cohortsafter (2013, 2014). Comparisons were made using t-tests for equal or unequal variance and datawere determined to be statistical significant at p-values less than 0.05.Results and DiscussionIn 2011 and 2012, a total of 56 students enrolled in the Engineering and Computer Sciencesummer bridge program. All of these students enrolled in and successfully completed thesurvey-style Engineering seminar course that was then offered. These students were a verydiverse group, with respect to race and ethnicity. In 2011-12, 64.3% of the students enrolled inthis program were under-represented
misunderstandings in communication,factionalism, and disagreements between teammates 15–17. On the other hand, the great advantageof working in multicultural teams is that people from different backgrounds bring a broaderrange of perspectives, points of view and ideas to the team discussion that ultimate lead to morerobust, flexible and innovative solutions 15,18,19. Culture’s structural organization and practices are often reflected on team-member’sperspectives and expectations of team dynamics. In hierarchical, context-orientated cultures such Page 26.1177.2as China and Mexico, levels of authority are well defined and interdependence from others in
them a wealth of learning and experiencethat may reflect their diverse backgrounds. Similarly, faculty may also bring new knowledgeinto their role as instructors, often borne from their international experiences. With the potentialfor so many differences in knowledge and perspective, the prospect for learning barriers to affectthe inclusivity of classroom instruction is high. Accordingly, the richness of perspectives may belost if effective efforts are not made to create a safe environment with a sense of belonging andcollective ownership.2As a first step toward investigating the effects of diversity on the interface between students,instructors and the learning environment, a group of instructors at Northeastern University inBoston
parents’ expectations, what appealed to them most, and what they were mostconcerned about.Semi-structured interviews were conducted with faculty at mid-semester. These interviewsaddressed faculty’s experience with students and other faculty, and their beliefs about what wasgoing well and what could be improved for next time. Researchers also attended and took notesat faculty reflection sessions. Finally, class observations were conducted to inform ourunderstanding of the other data sources.Data AnalysisDescriptive statistics were used to summarize closed-ended survey data. Qualitative data frominterviews and open-ended survey items were analyzed using the constant comparative methodfor naturalistic inquiry [27], to discover themes related to
technicalities such as spelling or grammar. Instead, focus your writing process on your personal reflections. If you have any questions, please let me know and I will be glad to assist you.The first page of the activity listed 12 broad values not directly related to academic performance:being good at art; creativity; relationships with family and friends; government or politics;independence; learning and gaining knowledge; athletic ability; belonging to a social group(such as your community, racial group, or school club); music; career; spiritual or religiousvalues; and a sense of humor. The instructions asked students to circle 2-3 values that are ofpersonal importance.Page 2 of the activity asked students to write a few sentences
distinct from sex. Connellnotes that gender is not a supposedly biologically-obvious division between men and women, butinstead the way human society collectively makes relevant these reproductive distinctions Page 26.1007.5between human bodies in a social context. For us, the context is engineering education. In its simplest form, gender reflects the set of characteristics, behaviors, and practices that we think ofas “feminine” or “masculine” – characteristics that any individual biological male or female mayor may not embody.Race, like gender, is not a biological category but a social one. And unlike sex, race has nobiological basis, despite a
. Table 1. Grading Scheme Individual Individual Readiness Assurance Test (iRAT) 10% Quizzes and Exam 20% Journal Reflection 20% Team Team Readiness Assurance Test (tRAT) 5% Design Project 45% Total 100%Two peer evaluations were conducted using CATME. One was around week 9 into the semesterand the other was at the end. The peer evaluation let the students evaluate both themselves andother members on
negatively with team performance at ρ = -.21. Additionally, teams perceivedsignificantly higher levels of innovation efficacy, meaning they believed they could create moreinnovative solutions to the problems they were presented in lab. Furthermore, the significantincrease in team cohesion reveals the improvement in team relationships that were formed duringthe team experience. While team cohesion reflects the enjoyment of a teamwork experience,meta-analyses have also demonstrated that it is positively related to team performance24, 25.Collectively, the results shown above highlight the effect of the SUIT training frameworkwhereby all team dynamic variables were influenced in the desired direction.Despite the positive trends highlighted above, the
157% Dec 330 369 534 718 218% Total 2229 2598 3614 4862 218%Written information was collected from the learning teams twice a semester along with a finalevaluation. All students were asked to turn in two reflection papers, one at four weeks in and thesecond one at 11 weeks. The questions asked on the first paper were the following: Please write in a few sentences about your biggest challenges to date concerning adjusting to the University. Describe the positive experiences you have had and what has helped you to adjust. Please describe your comfort level with your course work to date. What courses have been the most difficult and what courses do you feel you need further
post-secondary institutions, the study university has implemented several programs tohelp first-year students transition to college. Three such programs relevant to this study include: 1. First Year Seminars (FYS) – special sections of a three-credit core curriculum course. Compared to other sections of the core courses, FYS include only first-semester students, are limited to an enrollment of eighteen students per section, are taught by a full-time faculty member (instead of adjunct faculty), and include additional learning outcomes intended to develop academic habits of mind (i.e., reflection, explanation, etc.). 2. RWU Experience (RWUXP)41 – a non-credit course meeting one hour per week. Led jointly by a faculty
. Therefore, we examine studentmusic genre preference in the context of self-efficacy to reflect multiple aspects of the studentexperience.With the nation’s call for more diverse engineering professionals, engaging music preferencemay provide a unique approach to broadening participation in engineering. Therefore, weexplore whether music preference plays a role in engineering discipline choice. Our researchfindings have the potential to inform how diversity in experiences and preferences may play a Page 26.347.2role in student choices. The findings therefore may have implications for how key stakeholders,instructors, academic