Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Sunday 5-Minute Work-in-Progress Postcard Session

Collection

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Susan Arnold-Christian, Virginia Tech; Walter C. Lee, Virginia Tech; Adrien DeLoach, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Ashley R. Taylor, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University; Christian Matheis, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Industrial Engineering from Clemson University.Mr. Adrien DeLoach, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Adrien DeLoach is a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education program and member of the academic support programs staff in the Center for the Enhancement of Engineering Diversity at Virginia Tech.Ms. Ashley R. Taylor, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Ashley Taylor is a doctoral student in engineering education at Virginia Polytechnic and State University, where she also serves as a program assistant for the Center for Enhancement of Engineering Diversity and an advisor for international senior design projects in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Ashley received her MS in Mechanical

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Tuesday 5-Minute Work-in-Progress Postcard Session

Collection

2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Petra Bonfert-Taylor, Dartmouth College; Vicki V. May, Dartmouth College; Holly Wilkinson P.E., Dartmouth College; Alicia Betsinger, Dartmouth College

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

major.Research QuestionsThrough this project, we hope to better support first-year aspiring engineering students,especially those from underprepared backgrounds. We hope to accomplish this by providingincreased academic and emotional support as well as integrating first-year aspiring engineeringstudents better into our school’s engineering community earlier in their academic careers. Viathese activities, we hope to retain students’ interest in engineering through this foundationalperiod of study. We will research the following questions, in particular as they pertain to our newsupport program: ● How do we support the development of meaningful relationships for underprepared first- year students within their engineering experience? In order to

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Focusing on Student Success

Collection

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Abigail T. Stephan, Clemson University; Laurel Whisler, Clemson University; Elizabeth Anne Stephan, Clemson University; Bridget Trogden, Clemson University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Governor’s Teaching Fellow for the State of Georgia. She was the inaugural Director of the First-year Seminar program as part of a General Education curric- ular revision at Mercer. Her last three years at Mercer were also spent serving as Director of the program ”Research that Reaches Out,” which integrated research and service by involving faculty and students in real-world problems. As a chemist, Dr. Trogden’s broad interest area is the impact of small molecules on human health. These projects have been applied in research on breast cancer, pregnancy-associated malaria, and metabolic disorders. She has worked with undergraduate student researchers and has pre- sented on Capitol Hill as part of the Council on

Conference Session

FPD12 -- Novel Approaches to First Year Programs

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Janet Meyer, Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis; Nancy Lamm, Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis; Joshua Smith, Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

students a homework project where they are required to create in Excel a schedule fortheir entire week. This schedule must designate some activity - study time, class time, work time,sleep, etc. – for every one of the 168 hours of the week.Four weeks later the students are assigned a project that requires that they make a web page.Students were given instruction in how to make a simple web page using FrontPage. The firstpage of their web page is about study skills. Students are instructed to use their knowledge ofstudy skills and student success to design a page that would inform prospective high schoolstudents about what it takes to do well in college. (The second page of their web pages is aboutengineering. The second page is not part of this

Conference Session

FPD5 -- Placement & Early Success

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carol Gattis, University of Arkansas; Bryan Hill, University of Arkansas; Abraham Lachowsky, University of Arkansas

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

/or get counseling from the counseling center.Other topics covered in the first semester sessions are: taking the first test, study habits, how toput a bad test score in perspective, not repeating the same mistakes, professor etiquette,organizational skills, dropping classes, midterms survival, perspective changes, co-ops andresearch projects, pre-registration, roommates and friends, health center, grade forgiveness, andsurviving finals. Of course, mentors and mentees discuss any issue of concern with the mentee.It is not limited to the special topics listed above.The second semester, mentees have grown substantially over the first semester and typicallychoose to meet every 2-3 weeks with a mentor, if at all. Topics for the second semester

Conference Session

FPD10 -- Pre-Engineering and Bridge Programs

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Michele Grimm, Wayne State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

the reason behind low math placement and substandard ACT or SAT scores.Ideally, improving the preparation of students should be a joint project between universities andK-12 educators. However, this partnership can be complicated by the large number and diversityof the school districts from which a university attracts students. Therefore, the development ofprograms to meet the needs of all students interested in pursuing engineering, irrespective of thepreparation they were able to obtain in high school, is imperative if colleges are to meet theeducational needs of students and the educational goals of the community. Page 12.206.2Wayne State

Conference Session

FPD11 -- Multidisciplinary Experiences

Collection

2007 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John-David Yoder, Ohio Northern University; Beverly Jaeger, Northeastern University; John K. Estell, Ohio Northern University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

longer presentation is important, but adding time to this assignment woulddetract from its purpose. With regard to the second comment, it seems clear from the questionsabout student interests that assigning projects with an equal amount of each topic could makestudents less enthusiastic. A positive by-product of the OME was that students were able to getto know a little about one another’s interests on the basis of OME selections. We are not inclinedto compromise the opportunity to personalize as it tends to make it more interesting in general.Based on faculty evaluations of the presentations, finding ways for the students to be moreengaged in the presentation and avoid reading note cards should be a priority. As noted above,perhaps a

Conference Session

FPD9 - First Year Learning & Assessment

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jim Chamberlain, Clemson University; Lisa Benson, Clemson University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

what I want to do instead of filling a mold” Engineering not rewarding / appealing “(new field) deals mainly with people rather than (“pushed from”) with things” Profession Other profession more appealing “the number of options for a career (in new field)” (“pulled towards”) “more money to be made” Misunderstanding of engineering as a “I can do project management (in new field)” profession “actual practical knowledge

Conference Session

FPD2 - First-Year Advising and Transition

Collection

2008 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ida Ngambeki, Purdue University; Odesma Dalrymple, Purdue University; Demetra Evangelou, Purdue University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

program at one university, allow students togain a better understanding of various disciplines by participating in engineering projects in thecommunity10. Colleges and universities also use introduction to engineering or first year seminarcourses in engineering to introduce students to the different fields in engineering by havingprojects and labs relating to different disciplines, or having guest speakers come in to giveintroductions to the different disciplines5, 11. Other colleges allow students to take severalintroductory courses in various areas to allow them to explore and gather information on variousfields12.A study of one such introductory program found that approximately 30% of students choose theirengineering discipline before

Conference Session

The Best of First-year Programs Division

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Laurel Whisler, Clemson University; Abigail T. Stephan, Clemson University; Elizabeth Anne Stephan, Clemson University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

. Thus learning strategies modeledin this course influence students’ approach in their other courses, and the learning strategiescourse becomes an environment for social cognitive learning [14]. The fourth area is to applylearning in personal and group practices with an iterative cycle of quality improvement [4]. Inthis cycle, individuals identify their plan for accomplishing a project related to the learning ordevelop habitual practices to support their learning. After engaging with the project or practices,the individuals check or evaluate their effectiveness and determine appropriate actions toimprove or maintain their current effectiveness.Learners reflect on and become aware of what they are learning through periods ofcontemplation and

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division: Collection

Collection

2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Benjamin Emery Mertz, Arizona State University; Daniel M. Ferguson, Purdue University, West Lafayette; Mohd Iramul Hoque, CATME

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

work/project. It includes completing your portion of the work in a timely fashion. • Interacting (I) with teammates refers to the various ways individuals communicate with and show respect for their teammates. Encouraging every team member to give their opinion and ensuring their voice is heard are part of this. • Keeping (K) refers to alerting the team to conditions that could affect the team’s success. • Expecting (E) quality is about both expressing the belief that the team can do a good job and encouraging the team to do its best.Since each of these five dimensions is equally important to the success of the team, these formthe basis for the peer reviews [16].This paper is meant to address how much

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 5A: Work-In-Progress: 5 Minute Postcard Session I

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Ross Tapia, New Mexico State University; Elizabeth Ann Howard, New Mexico State University; Rolfe Sassenfeld, New Mexico State University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

challengeshave given the students the chance to present their work to the class or write a documented reporton their project. Students have enjoyed these design challenges and we are continuing to findadditional impromptu design challenges to supplement the content of the curriculum.DataOur preliminary data shows promising results from our ENGR 100 course.78.5% of studentswho were enrolled in ENGR 100 in fall 2014 matriculated from their freshman to theirsophomore year. This is an increase of 14.6% from the previous year’s retention rate of 63.9%.The data is currently being evaluated to determine the retention rate for the fall 2015 cohort. Theanalysis of the fall 2015 data will require comparing students who traditionally began their careerin college

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 2: Design in the First Year: Challenges and Successes

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

DeLean Tolbert, Engineering Education, Purdue University; Monica E Cardella, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

withproblem solving processes [20, 21], and finally they work on an eight-week design project wherestudents are tasked with not only solving a problem but identifying (and making an argumentfor) a problem to address [22].Study DesignStudents are recruited to spend three hours independently designing a playground for a fictitiousneighborhood and are compensated for their time. Students are asked to “think aloud” as theywork to solving this open-ended and purposely ambiguous task. Verbal protocol analysis andvideo analysis technique provide a research approach which allows the research team to uncoverinvisible thought processes. The thought processes are then analyzed using a coding schemeinformed by: (1) The second author’s modified version of

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 5A: Work-In-Progress: 5 Minute Postcard Session I

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Nicolas N. Brown, University of Utah; Joy Velarde, University of Utah; Debra J. Mascaro, University of Utah

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Paper ID #16841Using Peer Mentoring to Enhance Student Experience and Increase Reten-tion in Mechanical EngineeringMr. Nicolas N. Brown, University of Utah Nicolas is a senior in the mechanical engineering department at the University of Utah. He is the peer mentoring coordinator for the Department of Mechanical Engineering, as well as an Undergraduate Re- search Assistant for the Ergonomics and Safety Lab. His current area of research involves designing and integrating control systems on recreational equipment for high-level spinal cord injury patients. Nicolas’ senior design project is the Rodent Tracker; a mechatronics

Conference Session

First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 5A: Work-In-Progress: 5 Minute Postcard Session I

Collection

2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Heidi Cian, Clemson University; Michelle Cook, Clemson University; Lisa Benson, Clemson University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Engineering and Science Education at Clemson University, with a joint appointment in Bioengineering. Her research focuses on the interactions between student moti- vation and their learning experiences. Her projects involve the study of student perceptions, beliefs and attitudes towards becoming engineers and scientists, and their problem solving processes. Other projects in the Benson group include effects of student-centered active learning, self-regulated learning, and incor- porating engineering into secondary science and mathematics classrooms. Her education includes a B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of Vermont, and M.S. and Ph.D. in Bioengineering from Clemson University. c

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Assessment in the First Year

Collection

2020 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Abigail T. Stephan, Clemson University; Elizabeth Anne Stephan, Clemson University; Matthew K. Miller, Clemson University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

use and purpose of exam wrappers inhigher education, followed by the unique design and purpose of modified exam wrapperactivities within the learning strategies course for students in the GELC at Clemson University.This section will include the specific processes utilized in the first and second iterations of theactivity. Then, the methods used to analyze the exam wrapper data will be explained, followedby results. Finally, a discussion outlining the meaning of the results and implications forpractitioners will be provided.Exam WrappersExams wrappers are often used as a tool to scaffold students’ evaluation of their preparation andperformance on graded assignments, including projects, quizzes, and exams. An exam wrapper istypically a

Conference Session

FPD VIII: Crossing Bridges and Easing Transitions into the First Year

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

David Jones, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Carmen R. Zafft, University of Nebraska, Lincoln; Evan T. Curtis, University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

exercise, students were placed in groups of three tofour students for the task of selecting an engineering program offered by the COE and compose asurvey paper that would provide an overview of the engineering discipline as well as factors likeworking conditions, average earnings, and necessary education. Once the teams were created,students engaged in a learning style exercise that enabled students to identify the strengths andweaknesses of his or her learning style and consider how that learning style would potentiallyaffect the team’s performance. The purpose of the team project was twofold. First, studentswere placed in teams based on similar majors. This provided students with the opportunity todevelop relationships with their peers with the

Conference Session

FPD 2: Building Community

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Betsy F. Willis, Southern Methodist University; David A. Willis, Southern Methodist University; Mark Fontenot, Southern Methodist University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

ofleadership in the reading to a discussion of how to implement it. A complete list of the readingscan be found in the references.8-17 IDEAL scholars put into practice leadership and professionalskills through presentations to the group and service projects. Presentations from IDEALscholars included strategies for attending a career fair and obtaining an internship or job offer,techniques for successful digital design of posters and presentations, and practicing presentationsfor a class project. Service opportunities included visiting a local elementary school andworking with younger students who were part of an after-school engineering explorers program.Each semester, informal dinners and holiday parties provided opportunities for informalinteraction

Conference Session

First-Year Programs (FPD) Poster Session

Collection

2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Samantha Islam, University of South Alabama; Samuel H. Russ, University of South Alabama; Kevin D. White Ph.D., University of South Alabama

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

Engineering atthe University of South Alabama is currently listed as a team member of an NSF fundedExtension Services project entitled ENGAGE (Engaging Students in Engineering)[1]. Theprimary goal of ENGAGE is to improve the retention of undergraduates in engineering programsby encouraging the implementation of research-proven techniques. One of the three strategies forimproving retention is to assess and improve the spatial visualization skills of the students.Spatial visualization skill is essential for understanding and solving a majority of engineeringproblems. Spatial visualization is the ability to correctly visualize three dimensional objectswhen they are represented in two dimensions (such as in a construction plan or in a detailed

Conference Session

FPD V: Increasing Engagement and Motivation of First-year Students

Collection

2012 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Carrie Robinson, Arizona State University; James Collofello, Arizona State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

UGTAs to a paidexperience with built-in oversight and deliberate efforts to improve teaching, learning, and skilldevelopment. The program has become increasingly institutionalized within the Ira A. FultonSchools of Engineering, and visibility of the program increases with each semester.UGTAs are sophomore and upper-division undergraduate students in good academic standingwho spend about three to five hours each week working with an engineering class. UGTAs meetwith their faculty instructor to prepare for activities, assist their faculty in facilitating classroomactive learning projects, and may hold office hours or review sessions throughout the semester.Through their presence in the classroom, UGTAs

Conference Session

FPD 3: Research on First-year Programs and Students, Part I

Collection

2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Whalen, Northeastern University; Beverly K. Jaeger, Northeastern University; Susan F. Freeman, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

hands-onaspects. The two courses in the first-year program have design-to-build team projects, multi-media presentations and activities, case studies, design problem sets, along with embeddedapplications in programming, computer classrooms with classroom assessment techniques,designed to actively engage the students, focused on their learning and learning styles. Yet evenwith continuous improvement and a strong focus on student learning and engagement, theproblem of students e-tasking persists in creating distractions in the classroom, even with effortsto dissuade them from doing so.Current Classroom Strategies for Reducing E-tasking DistractionsIn an attempt to reduce the e-tasking in class, some new strategies were adopted at

Conference Session

Research on The First Year II

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Catherine Pieronek, University of Notre Dame; Kerry Meyers, University of Notre Dame; Sara Skiles, University of Notre Dame; Sean Kelly, University of Notre Dame; Leo McWilliams, University of Notre Dame

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

scrutinize factors that affected enrollment and persistence in engineering.This longitudinal retention study thus began in the fall of 2001, with the development of a hands-on first-year engineering course sequence that continues today, although in modified form.Analyzing student demographic data, along with retention data and academic performance data,has become an important aspect of evaluating the success of that experiment on an annual basis.Brockman et al.17 and others 18,18,20 have described in detail the motivations for and structure of theIntroduction to Engineering Systems I and II (EG 10111 and EG 10112) courses. The coursesequence comprises a series of team-oriented projects conducted over two semesters, andemphasizes a student-centered

Conference Session

FPD 5: Course Delivery Methods and Issues

Collection

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Krista M. Kecskemety, Ohio State University; Brooke Morin, Ohio State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

thegrade breakdown shown in Table 1. Table 1: First year engineering grade breakdown for the first semester course. Grade Category % of Grade Preparation Assignments 10% Application Assignments 20% Laboratory Assignments 21% Journals 3% Design Project 5% Extra Weekly Assignments BONUS 3% Quizzes 6% Midterm Exams 20

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Cornucopia

Collection

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Cassondra Wallwey, The Ohio State University; Tyler Milburn, The Ohio State University; Brooke Morin, The Ohio State University

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

; Wankat [9] noted thatcommunication skills were not a common area of weakness observed in incoming engineeringstudents compared to mathematics, science, or other general life skills, technical communicationhas been identified as a weakness of engineers leaving undergraduate programs and joining theworkforce [11]. The misalignment of skill deficits related to communication between whenstudents enter and leave engineering programs has led many engineering programs to take action.Many universities have introduced assignments and projects focused on technicalcommunication skills into courses across engineering curricula (e.g. [16], [17], [18]). Many FYEprograms have taken an active role in working to improve students’ technical communication -and

Conference Session

Goal Specific First-Year Courses

Collection

2009 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Lewis, University of Louisville; Jeffrey Hieb, University of Louisville; David Wheatley, University of Louisville

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

-Engineering and Mechanical. Because of thisdiverse student population and potential interests, efforts are made to make the case studysubjects as general as possible with detailed discipline specific technical analyses minimized.Generally, the case study work concentrates on the evaluative nature of engineering work such asidentifying important variables in a problem, project assessment, and system analysis. Highlytechnical aspects of engineering such as detailed design, process development, and detailedanalysis are avoided.Case studies are organized as portions of three or four class periods. In the first class period, apresentation/lecture introduces the case study giving the historical and background informationconcerning the subject. During this

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 3: Diversity and Multicultural Influences in the First Year

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Chirag Variawa, Northeastern University; Susan F Freeman, Northeastern University; Kathryn Schulte Grahame, Northeastern University; Kris Jaeger-Helton, Northeastern University; Courtney Pfluger, Northeastern University; Richard Whalen, Northeastern University

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

expressly devoted to the first-year Engineering Program at Northeastern University. Recently, she has joined the expanding Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at NU to continue teaching Simulation, Facilities Planning, and Human-Machine Systems. She also serves as a Technical Advisor for Senior Capstone Design and graduate-level Challenge Projects in Northeastern’s Gordon Engineering Leadership Program. Dr. Jaeger has been the recipient of numerous awards in engineering education for both teaching and mentoring and has been involved in several engineering educational research initiatives through ASEE and beyond.Dr. Courtney Pfluger, Northeastern University Dr. Courtney Pfluger received her Doctoral degree

Conference Session

First Year Programs Division Poster Session: The Best Place to Really Talk about First-Year Education

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Donald E. Richards, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology; Michael A. Collura, University of New Haven

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

problem statement and building amodel from fundamental principles using explicit assumptions and application of problem spe-cific information. Thus, the answer produced by the student is supported by an explicit chain oflogic that can be examined by everyone.University of New Haven (UNH)In 2004 Tagliatela College of Engineering at UNH introduced a set of common engineering fun-damentals courses for all engineering programs. The set of courses, collectively referred to as theMultidisciplinary Engineering Foundation Spiral Curriculum (MEFSC)19,20, spanned the fresh-man and sophomore levels. First-year courses include project-based courses to introduce the en-gineering design process, project planning, and the use of spreadsheets with Visual Basic

Conference Session

First-year Programs Division Technical Session 16: That Important Decision - Which Engineering Major?

Collection

2015 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Frank Blubaugh, Purdue University; Joyce B. Main, Purdue University, West Lafayette

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

—students wearconcert t-shirts showcasing their favorite music artists, instructors play music during class topromote a particular learning environment, groups of students listen to music as they worktogether on a project or as they attempt to solve a homework question. Previous research haslinked musical preference to personality and values, both of which correlate to social identity,and to a lesser extent, academic study habits. Pierre Bourdieu's landmark text La Distinction alsoasserts that social class influences judgments of taste and choices in cultural activities.Researchers have also used markers such as genre taste as a cultural indicator, focusing on"high" arts, such as classical music, ballet, and art museums as measures of culture.1

Conference Session

Potpourri of First-Year Issues

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rod Paton, University of Auckland; Chris Smaill, University of Auckland; Gerard Rowe, University of Auckland

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

, electronicresources and assignments) were also used to corroborate claims or assertions made ininformal interviews of academic staff and communications given to students. For example,teaching staff in lectures and tutorials emphasized that students should take responsibility fortheir own learning, and this message also came through in course materials, projects,electronic resources and assignments.The researcher was aware that his presence in the class could well impact on studentbehaviour. However, he was present from the first lecture and subsequently attended alllectures. He also attended a number of different tutorial classes and spent some time seated instudent work-areas. On a relatively small number of occasions the researcher did take on amore active

Conference Session

First-Year Programs: Virtual Instruction in the First Year II

Collection

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Authors

Nina Kamath Telang, University of Texas at Austin; Nisha Abraham, University of Texas at Austin; Mohana Seelan, University of Texas at Austin; Ramakrishna Sai Annaluru, University of Texas at Austin

Tagged Topics

Diversity

Tagged Divisions

First-Year Programs

gathered through a survey conducted at the start of the semester indicated that morethan 50% of our incoming students have either completed AP Computer Science A or APComputer Science Principles or both, about 25% have taken another computer programmingcourse or learned programming through high school club activities, and only about 20% of ourstudents have no experience whatsoever. While this freshman level course does not require anyprior knowledge of programming basics, students having some background are at an advantagedue to their familiarity with the process of algorithmic thinking, and translation of an algorithmto a computer program. The primary objective of this research project was to determine theimpact of active learning on students