Conference Session

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies: Laboratory Pedagogy

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Bridget M. Smyser, Northeastern University; Sahar Tariq, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

has been shown to improve lab report writing in some cases, and can boost higher levelthinking. Report writing has also been improved by using peer review and revision to target poorgrammar and spelling as well as technical issues.7 Electronic lab notebooks have been used toimprove the ability of students to analyze their data and keep track of design decisions, whichcould be particularly helpful for experimental design activities.8 Lab reports have been written ingroups, or even during lab, in order to improve both the mechanics of report writing and thequality of the results through peer interaction and modeling from the instructor.9 The majority ofthese methods concentrate heavily on the writing aspect of lab reports, but tend to spend

Conference Session

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies: Laboratory Pedagogy

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Laura A. Garrison, York College of Pennsylvania; Timothy J. Garrison, York College of Pennsylvania

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

startedbrainstorming, discussing, and researching new ideas. At a faculty retreat some peer-reviewexamples were presented that could be applicable. These came from instructor resources in achemistry writing textbook.10 A presentation by Leipold at the 2015 ASEE Annual conferencecontained quite a few innovative ideas that could apply to this lab.11 See Appendix C for ahandout from that presentation with one of the author’s scribbled notes. Additionally, ideascame from a lecture / lab format for an Engineering Physics course.12, 13The resulting modifications to the course are listed here and partially described in the syllabusexcerpt found in Appendix D:1. CATME software was introduced to create teams and to administer peer reviews for teamwork for each lab

Conference Session

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies: Best Papers

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jonathan W. Valvano, University of Texas - Austin; Ramesh Yerraballi, University of Texas - Austin; Chad Fulton, University of Texas - Austin

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

question rated the simulated labs as helpful or veryhelpful in the process of learning the material. 96% felt the real-board labs were helpful or veryhelpful. Notice that these students rate physical labs much higher than videos, animations, andreading materials.Figure 8. Measure of learning effectiveness differentiated by course content.In this survey we also asked about grading of software style using peer assessment. Table 2shows that this component has room for improvement. The peer assessment was completelyredone for the Spring 2016 class.Table 2. Post-course survey for the Spring 2015 deployment when asked “Peer assessment inLabs 10, 12, or 14 provided me additional insight on writing effective code”.Strongly disagree 3.7%Disagree

Conference Session

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies: Laboratory Pedagogy

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Renee M. Clark, University of Pittsburgh; Arash Mahboobin, University of Pittsburgh

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

analyzeunknown systems using MATLAB programming. The problem based instructional approach forthe fall 2015 term began with a series of assignments guiding the students in decomposing theproblem into components; this allowed the problem itself to become central to skill development.The flipped instructional environment challenged students to prepare for lab sessions byreviewing programming examples and completing online assessments to gain early feedbackbefore going to the lab sessions. The lab sessions were then reserved for collaborative, hands-onprogramming practice with peers and just-in-time instructor questioning and monitoring.Students were encouraged to submit periodic progress reports (i.e. design reviews) for instructorfeedback and guidance

Conference Session

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies: Best Papers

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cara J Poor P.E., University of Portland; Evan S Miller, GeoEngineers, Inc.

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

and procedure, and ran the experiments. They then plottedand evaluated their results. After a discussion of results among peers (similar to what wouldoccur in a lab group), the volunteers took the post-test. Results from the pre- and post-test werethen compared to determine the effectiveness of the lab.The following semester, the new lab was assigned to 32 students in an Engineering HydraulicsLaboratory class. All students were senior undergraduates in Civil Engineering. Hydraulics is apre-requisite to the lab class, so all students understood basic hydrologic concepts. Based onfeedback from the volunteers, more explanation and guidance was included. Ideas were alsodiscussed in class when writing the procedure to guide students in their

Conference Session

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies: Electrical and Control Engineering

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dustyn Roberts P.E., University of Delaware; Andrew Peter Borowski, University of Delaware

Tagged Divisions

Division Experimentation & Lab-Oriented Studies

], and thusheightens engagement and learning [16]. Experiments should therefore be tuned to their specificaudience, such that the lab becomes an enjoyable experience instead of merely a hoop needing tobe jumped through to progress.2.4 Appeal to different types of learning stylesBalchen et al. [2] said that experiments should “give visual and acoustic sensation”.namely Visual, Auditory, Read/Write, and Kinesthetic (VARK) modalities [17].2.5 Provide a reasonable return on investment (ROI)It is not enough to say that an experiment should be low cost, because low is relative to theinstitution. Additionally, a low cost experiment that needs repurchase every year or two is notnecessarily lower cost than specialty hardware that is purchased once then