Conference Session

Classroom Methodologies

Collection

2021 Illinois-Indiana Regional Conference

Authors

Brian S. Woodard, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign; Tiffany Wenting Li; Ziang Xiao, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign; Molly H Goldstein, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign; Michael L. Philpott, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign

Tagged Topics

Classroom methodologies, Diversity

onlinewithout the standard use of pencil and paper sketching. Upon closer investigation of the data, male studentsimproved more than female students did. Further study is needed to determine if these results arerepresentative of typical trends and how the training could be modified to result in more equitable outcomesfor all the students.IntroductionDecades of research has consistently shown that spatial skills are one of the strongest predictors of futuresuccess in STEM coursework and STEM careers independent of math and verbal ability. Wai et al. [1] andShea et al. [2] reviewed numerous longitudinal studies with many thousands of participants to concludethat spatial skills are critical to developing expertise in STEM. Additionally, visualization

Conference Session

Classroom Methodologies

Collection

2021 Illinois-Indiana Regional Conference

Authors

John H. Mott, Purdue University at West Lafayette (PPI); Mary E. Johnson Ph.D., Purdue University at West Lafayette (PPI)

Tagged Topics

Classroom methodologies

at this university, there are two required courses for all MS students, and thenthe remaining eight courses are selected by the student’s graduate committee chair along with thestudent. This structure allows for highly customizable plans of study for students, and allows themto develop discipline specific knowledge that support their future career goals. The difficulty isthat the levels of proficiency that may be determined through course-level data is ratherproblematic to assess. For instance, a course may consist of 20 students, each of whom is in his orher first semester, second, third or final semester. While it is possible to track individual studentsseparately, that approach may require some effort on the part of faculty and may