they sign up in teams of threemembers to compete in a one hour long challenge. To ensure a multidisciplinary experience,participants in a team must be from different majors. The WIC is kicked off with a challengestatement containing the criteria for winning the challenge. Then, teams design, build anddeliver – if necessary – their solution for that week’s challenge. At the end of each competition, ideas are evaluated and the winning team isdetermined. Winning team receive a prize of $100 per member plus a T-shirt with the WIClogo and the words “Winner” on the back. Also, all participants are encouraged to submit awritten reflection. The author with the best reflection wins a $100 prize, regardless if suchauthor was also part of the
framework to guide and help students reflect on their thinking. InFall 2014, faculty sought to enhance and expand critical thinking instruction in the course byproviding students with more meaningful opportunities to apply the framework. Several writtenassignments for this course were crafted around the Grand Challenges. The purpose of theseassignments was two-fold. First, students would have meaningful opportunities to develop theircritical thinking skills by analyzing current engineering issues. Second, it was hoped thatstudents would gain an awareness of engineers’ roles in the global community by exposure to theGrand Challenges.Student written assignments were assessed for their demonstration of critical thinking ability andintegration of the
Page 26.886.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2015 Impact of reflective learning practices on students' learning of engineering dynamicsIntroductionEngineering is known as a challenging major that many students withdraw because of lowacademic achievement 1. Component Display Theory defines learning in two dimensions:content and performance 2-4. Content includes accepting facts, concepts, procedures, andprinciples; while performance refers to three phases of learning including remember, application,and generalities. Higher levels in both dimensions suggest a higher understanding degree anindividual gains. However, students’ feedback and assessment results suggest
requires by trial and error with some support from professional developmentprograms1.Professional development programs are typically low in attendance when employed andfaculty that do not attend indicate that the programs have low relevance to their own Page 26.1701.2teaching1,3. Felder et al. also indicate that many instructors are unaware of alternatives totraditional lecturing, as this is the way they were taught; they explain low studentperformance and low student evaluations as a reflection of the student, and not of theirteaching. A large component of this incorporation of alternatives is a perceived lack ofdiscipline-specific examples, making it
cultural upbringing. The reaction to this realization can be emotionallydistressing, as noted, but it can also provide the opportunity for transformative learning, as it hasbeen described in the literature on adult education.Transformative learning occurs when students are able to reflect critically on the culturalassumptions, values, beliefs, and behaviors that guide their everyday activities. As Mezirow putit, it is: a rational process of learning within awareness as a metacognitive application of critical thinking that transforms an acquired frame of reference - a mind-set or worldview of orienting assumptions and expectations involving values, beliefs, and concepts - by assessing its epistemic
. The Integrative GraduateEducation Research and Traineeship on Magnetic and Nanostructured Materials (IGERT-MNM)is a collaboration between Purdue University, Cornell University, and Norfolk State Universityto train interdisciplinary science and engineering doctoral students for future roles as leaders inthe materials science and engineering fields. As part of this socialization into future careers,students proceed through a variety of modules. This paper specifically covers student learning ina pedagogy module, which introduces students to best practices in teaching and learning.Graduate student reflections on the development of high-school level student and teacher scienceand engineering activities were analyzed via thematic coding methods in
-term plan for management of updates to the publishedCivil Engineering Body of Knowledge (CE BOK) and the associated ABET accreditationcriteria.1 This plan calls for ASCE to develop a formal revision to the CE BOK and associatedcriteria on a regular eight-year cycle. This regular change-cycle reflects three broadly acceptedconclusions drawn from ASCE’s experience in developing the first two editions of the CE BOK,from 2002 to the present: A professional body of knowledge is a dynamic entity that reflects the ever-changing nature of professional jurisdictions. A given profession (or professional group) can be strengthened by formally articulating and publishing its body of knowledge, but only if the profession is willing
students to reflect on their own learningstrategies and performance. The redesigned course was offered in Spring 2014, and significantimprovement in term project performance was observed. To analyze the impact of thepedagogical revision, a mixed methods research was used to collect both quantitative andqualitative data including pre- and post- survey, informal and formal interviews, and participantobservation. The interview was conducted multiple times throughout the quarter to track thechange of student motivation and participation in the class projects. The paper includes detaileddata analysis to reveal how students with different academic and cultural backgrounds respondedto the revised CPBL and discusses why these changes helped to promote
students’ development of effectivecommunication skills along with technical skill development. The senior capstone report oftenplays an instrumental role in this development, since it comprises both the final assessment ofstudent communication performance and also students’ most significant opportunity for activelearning of in-discipline communication skills. Peer review has been proposed as an ideal meansto provide students with much-needed feedback toward this communication learning. Peerreview also has the potential to increase students’ interpersonal communication skills andmetacognition, provided that the review activity is structured to encourage constructivecontributions and reflection[1]. The goal of this work-in-progress project is to
from the model in Buskit et al.:1. A pre-observation meeting with the Collins Scholar and two observers.2. The observation itself, often videotaped.3. Observer debriefing: The two observers discuss and write up a summary of their findings.4. Self-reflection: The Collins Scholar is invited to watch the video, and writes a self- Page 26.789.2 analysis of the class session.5. A post-observation meeting to discuss the class observed, the participants’ impressions, and strategies for continued improvement.The findings from Brinko’s review of the literature on the effectiveness of peer feedback haveframed and guided the way we train our observers
c American Society for Engineering Education, 2015 Quantifying and Qualifying the Preparedness of Engineering Students Collaborating with Underserved Communities InternationallyAbstract:Increasing globalization and technological innovations have redefined the role ofengineers in working towards sustainable development. This is reflected in the creationand adoption of ABET Engineering Criteria 2000 which included six professional skillsto prepare engineers who were more aware of how their profession, products and servicesare embedded in the larger global, socio-economic and political context. The question ofhow to measure and evaluate preparedness of engineering students to meet theserequirements remains an open question.This
individual ‘portrait’ of themselves, which is then used as a starting point fordiscussion, training, interaction with others, and conscious, insightful reflection. With the KGI,each student receives a personal profile comprised of numerous action items to develop groupskills at his or her own pace. Our work in this freshman course provides the basic training on theutilization of information provided by these instruments, asks each student to pick two skillsfrom their personal KGI profile, and has developed assignments to promote reflection on theirimplementation of KGI skills and personal behaviors.INTRODUCTION/ MOTIVATION“Today, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is the most widely used psychologyinstrument in the world for the normal
instruction on different leadership theories (situational,transformational and servant)19,20,21, and were asked to reflect on how their ropes courseexperience related to the different leadership styles they just learned about, and about importantlessons learned during the academy.Purpose of assessmentThe purpose of the assessment plan developed in this study was to investigate how theLeadership Academy activities tied to the outcomes of the KEEN program. Additionally, thisassessment was used to gauge the student perspective on the leadership academy and identifyaspects of the academy that students found important to their current academy pursuits and futurecareers in STEM fields. Outside the context of the KEEN program, the Leadership Academy andthis
specific interactions, activities, and the languageof community engagement partnerships as transactional, cooperative or communal. In addition tothe theoretical grounding, the paper also provides a summary of the activities that we will befacilitating during the special session, including analyzing cases and design tools, reflecting oncurrent program structures, and creating an action plan to implement changes in the participants’current, anticipated, or imagined engagement programs. By the end of the special session,participants will be able to evaluate their past, current or future partnerships, observe howprogram structures can influence partnerships, and assess the differences that these partnershipscan make in the success or failures of
problems faced by underserved communities 2. Motivation, aims and research underpinnings of course curriculum 3. A review of the current state of the sanitation and hygiene problem globally, the history of how the problem evolved, and what is being done to address it. This course serves as an introduction to works of scholars and practitioners who are currently engaged in sanitation related work in underserved communities 4. A method for hands-on engagement in working with an underserved community 5. Reflection on the critical role of research in solving complex global problems and recognizing the contribution that the students have made as engineers and undergraduate research scholars to the
. Interviewparticipants were selected using a cross-case matching methodology based on their globalpreparedness measure scores (i.e., high vs low scorers). Twenty-five undergraduate engineeringstudents enrolled at the three collaborating universities were interviewed. Interview data wereholistically reviewed with an a priori coding schema based on the research objectives and thenre-coded according to the final coding schema by multiple research team members for inter-raterreliability purposes, and arbitrated where necessary.Differences in students’ reflections emerged based on the depth of their engagement with theculture and community in the host country in which they had participated in an internationalexperience. The results from this study broaden the
technological and engineer- ing philosophy and literacy. In particular how such literacy and competency are reflected in curricular and student activities. In addition he is active in research of engineering education and new focuses on engineering pedagogy. Page 26.1572.1 c American Society for Engineering Education, 2015 The Role of Transdisciplinary Courses in the Reform of the Engineering Curriculum. A Case Study.AbstractThe case study presented in this paper is a description of a blended transdisciplinary SmallPrivate On-Line Course (SPOC) conducted by one of the authors
. While the basic assignment has remained the same each year, the application haschanged in some way each year. In 2012, four regularly scheduled class sessions were cancelledto provide additional time for students to attend or reflect on their events. Students wereprovided a list of possible events to attend and regular announcements were made of appropriateevents that were being hosted around the university. Based on student feedback from the firstyear’s offering, along with the recognition that the cancelled classes provided additionalopportunities to bring in exploration content (and that some students, due to other constraints,could attend only activities during normal class times), the second year offering was modified.The first-year
, 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
reflection component on personal development, social impact, academic enhancement,university mission, and ethics. A mixed-methods approach was used to examine differencesbetween first-year engineering students who participated in service-learning projects during thefall semester of 2014 and those who did not. Students participating in service-learning projectsshowed significantly higher gains in confidence in both technical and professional engineeringskills. Female students in particular showed the most dramatic gains, with an average increase of81.6% in technical engineering confidence as a result of their service-learning course. The highergains in confidence can be attributed to the students learning more about how to identify andunderstand
Implementation in GEE Collaboration with underserved community Regular Skype calls with Community partners Understanding the complexity of the Readings from multiple fields includingproblem space gender studies, philosophy, economics, sociology Equality of engagement by students and Articulation of what I care about andfield partners employing a discourse on care Active reflection Journaling and reflection papers on class readings Table 1: Summary of the
down the watershed. Data collected from their sample was then gathered into alarger data set representing data from all three lab sections and the three lake sites. Students werethen given the task of analyzing and reporting the data throughout the semester. To examine therelationship between field work and student attitudes and perception on field studies, students inan environmental engineering laboratory course were assigned a reflection paper before and afterperforming the field work exercise. Further reflection was given by the instructor of the labcourse on student’s performance, attitudes, and the instructor’s perception of the field study.Final results revealed a positive response by both students and instructors in regard to
years, the MAX scholarship program has engaged in a continuousimprovement process. The students provide feedback at least once per semester through onlinesurveys and, most recently, reflection essays. The faculty mentors and graduate assistant observewhat is working well and where improvement is needed during the weekly seminars. Theydiscuss and reflect on continuous improvement ideas at their weekly planning meetings and anannual reflection and assessment meeting at the end of the year. This process is guided by theorganizational goals and implemented through interventions to the supporting structure of MAX(See Table 1). Some examples of changes include annual retreats, common reads assigned overwinter break, and formally assigning primary
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
deliver content, concepts andskills in light of their reflective knowledge of students' means of understanding and learning thematerial. With JTF web-enabled engagement and feedback pedagogy instructors' attitudes andapproaches to teaching shift toward student-centered learning with resultant change in classroompractice to make instruction more effective. This was evidenced by improvements in studentperformance. The process of shifting beliefs and practice of eight collaborating faculty employedan implementation strategy that utilized a faculty change model and an organizational model ofcharacteristics of sustainable innovation. As such, the research question addressed in this paperis, "What is the effect of JTF engagement and feedback pedagogy
motivate theengineering students to actively learn and develop their well-needed self-reflection and self-judgment skills. This approach will help maximize the effectiveness of the homeworkcomponent and empower the students to learn from their own mistakes. In this model, students’grades are based on their ability to clearly identify their misconceptions, make corrections, andprovide a clear justification for how they graded their homework problems. In addition, thismodel is sought to not only discourage plagiarism but also to provide an accurate indicator of theperformance of every student in class. To validate our findings, we conducted both quantitativeand qualitative assessments taking into consideration all the pertinent parameters involved
(ELT) has been suggested in The Art of Changing the Brain: Enriching Teachingby Exploring the Biology of Learning7. With respect to the brain’s structure and the learningcycles, Concrete Experiences (CE) comes through the sensory cortex located at the back of thebrain, Reflective Observation (RO) involves the temporal integration cortex at the bottom of thebrain, Abstract Conceptualization (AC) happens in the frontal integrative cortex of the brain, andActive Experimentation (AE) takes place in the motor portion of the brain. An illustration of alearning cycle and their correlation to regions of the cerebral cortex is shown in Figure 1. Thefour phases of the learning cycle are not necessarily sequential as shown. The learning cycle maybegin in
reviewTeams were asked to identify aspects of their draft that were better than those they read, as wellas describe modifications that they would make to their report based upon what they saw fromtheir classmates. The complete instructions of the team portion of the exercise are Part 2 of theassignment in the appendix. The reflection was turned in, along with the feedback they providedto their classmates. Credit for both parts of the assignment was essentially effort-based. Teamsthen received the peer feedback and began working on the subsequent first-half draft of thereport. This draft included the two sections that were the subject of the peer review, plus a few
engineering calculus course taught via synchronous broadcast at a mid-size,Western, public university. The instructional innovation required first year calculus students toparticipate in an asynchronous, online discussion forum for graded credit. Data, consisting ofwritten reflections and transcribed interviews, were gathered from three STEM faculty memberswho each played a different role in the change process: a mathematics instructor implementingthe online forum within his course; an engineering faculty peer-mentor assisting with theimplementation of the online forum; and a STEM education faculty member evaluating theimplementation and observing the process of change. Situated within the interpretive researchparadigm, this study uses exploratory
children’s motivation, interest, and awareness inSTEM.IntroductionWith the need to prepare students for the 21st century workforce a university with a very diversestudent population strives to address one of the critically important issues facing society:increasing the number of underrepresented students pursuing and completing degrees in science,technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Evidence within the Department ofLabor reflects that fifteen of the twenty fastest growing jobs projected for 2014 requiresignificant preparation in mathematics and science with the numbers of STEM professionsexpected to grow at a faster rate than those non-STEM professions[1]. Although careers in STEMprovide paths out of poverty, make significant