An Innovative Teaching Method to Increase Engagement in the Classroom: A Case Study in Science and Engineering

Rania Al-Hammoud; Arshia Khan; Ona Egbue; Stephen Phillips

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Conference: 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Columbus, Ohio
Publication Date: June 24, 2017
Start Date: June 24, 2017
End Date: June 28, 2017
Conference Session: Changing the Engineering Classroom
Tagged Division: Educational Research and Methods
Page Count: 15
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--27568
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/27568
Download Count: 623

Paper Authors

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Rania Al-Hammoud P.Eng. University of Waterloo

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Dr. Al-Hammoud is a Faculty lecturer (Graduate Attributes) in the department of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Al-Hammoud has a passion for teaching where she continuously seeks new technologies to involve students in their learning process. She is actively involved in the Ideas Clinic, a major experiential learning initiative at the University of Waterloo. She is also responsible for developing a process and assessing graduate attributes at the department to target areas for improvement in the curriculum. This resulted in several publications in this educational research areas.
Dr. Al-Hammoud won the “Ameet and Meena Chakma award for exceptional teaching by a student” in 2014 and the "Engineering Society Teaching Award" in 2016 from University of Waterloo. Her students regard her as an innovative teacher who continuously introduces new ideas to the classroom that increases their engagement.

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Arshia Khan University of Minnesota, Duluth

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Arshia A. Khan, Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth, earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer-Engineering, M.S. in Computer Science and Ph.D in Information Technology. Her research interests are interdisciplinary and span the biomedical informatics, clinical/health informatics, and consumer health informatics. Her research is on sensor based wireless, robotic non-intrusive device development for monitoring physiological changes for population health management, mobile clinical decision support, and data analysis. She authored “Objective-C and iOS Programming: A simplistic Approach"

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Ona Egbue University of Minnesota, Duluth

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Ona Egbue is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Minnesota Duluth. She holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Management from Missouri University of Science and Technology, a master's degree in Earth and Environmental Resource Management from the University of South Carolina and a bachelor of engineering degree in Electrical/Electronics Engineering from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria. Her research interests include sustainable infrastructure particularly energy and transportation systems, sociotechnical system analysis, innovation adoption and engineering education

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Stephen Phillips University of Waterloo

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Graduate student studying Civil Engineering at the University of Waterloo.

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Abstract

This Evidence-based practice paper describes a learning process developed and used in several STEM courses. Learning is a process unique to each individual and can be accomplished by watching, reading, doing, experiencing, repetition and even teaching. Learning according to [1] is a two-step process where the first step is to receive information and the second is to process. This study is an active learning method that combines these two steps in a repetitive process that encourages engagement and collaboration in the classroom. Memory related research has identified and confirmed the power of repetition on the recall ability. Repetition has a profound impact on the event related brain potential eliciting a longer recall period and has been reported to speed up the learning process. In addition, paired learning combined with paired testing has been proven to enhance learning more than it would in paired learning combined with individual testing. This paper discusses a pedagogy that combines the above mentioned theories. This pedagogy aims to maximize learning in within a short time frame. Students learn while creating questions and answers to these questions, preparing for the quiz, taking the quiz and finally grading the quiz. The students work with a partner or in a group throughout the process of the quiz. The paper also discusses the modifications done to accommodate for the change in a classroom size. It also gives the feedback gathered from the students while implementing this pedagogy in a small and a large classroom setting and what improvements have been done in addressing students’ concerns. 93% of the students - found the process of creating the questions for the quiz to be helpful in reviewing the material learned in the class and the process of taking the quiz to be helpful in learning the material; 93% of the students indicated that they learned from their classmates; and 13% of the students preferred lecture only class. The project is a result of an international collaboration with professors from two different universities across three different disciplines in STEM including Civil Engineering, Computer Science and, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Slight variations of the method was employed based on the specific nature of the class. The project consists of the students working in groups to create questions and answers related to a topic briefly described in class. The questions and answers are presented in an online forum monitored by the class instructor for all the students to see. The students are then quizzed on questions from the pool asked by them online. The project was implemented in a range of class sizes from 20 students to 120 students.

Citation
Format

Al-Hammoud, R., & Khan, A., & Egbue, O., & Phillips, S. (2017, June), An Innovative Teaching Method to Increase Engagement in the Classroom: A Case Study in Science and Engineering Paper presented at 2017 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Columbus, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--27568

TY - CPAPER
AB - This Evidence-based practice paper describes a learning process developed and used in several STEM courses. Learning is a process unique to each individual and can be accomplished by watching, reading, doing, experiencing, repetition and even teaching. Learning according to [1] is a two-step process where the first step is to receive information and the second is to process. This study is an active learning method that combines these two steps in a repetitive process that encourages engagement and collaboration in the classroom. Memory related research has identified and confirmed the power of repetition on the recall ability. Repetition has a profound impact on the event related brain potential eliciting a longer recall period and has been reported to speed up the learning process. In addition, paired learning combined with paired testing has been proven to enhance learning more than it would in paired learning combined with individual testing.
This paper discusses a pedagogy that combines the above mentioned theories. This pedagogy aims to maximize learning in within a short time frame. Students learn while creating questions and answers to these questions, preparing for the quiz, taking the quiz and finally grading the quiz. The students work with a partner or in a group throughout the process of the quiz. The paper also discusses the modifications done to accommodate for the change in a classroom size. It also gives the feedback gathered from the students while implementing this pedagogy in a small and a large classroom setting and what improvements have been done in addressing students’ concerns. 93% of the students - found the process of creating the questions for the quiz to be helpful in reviewing the material learned in the class and the process of taking the quiz to be helpful in learning the material; 93% of the students indicated that they learned from their classmates; and 13% of the students preferred lecture only class.
The project is a result of an international collaboration with professors from two different universities across three different disciplines in STEM including Civil Engineering, Computer Science and, Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Slight variations of the method was employed based on the specific nature of the class. The project consists of the students working in groups to create questions and answers related to a topic briefly described in class. The questions and answers are presented in an online forum monitored by the class instructor for all the students to see. The students are then quizzed on questions from the pool asked by them online. The project was implemented in a range of class sizes from 20 students to 120 students.

AU - Rania Al-Hammoud P.Eng.
AU - Arshia Khan
AU - Ona Egbue
AU - Stephen Phillips
CY - Columbus, Ohio
DA - 2017/06/24
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - An Innovative Teaching Method to Increase Engagement in the Classroom: A Case Study in Science and Engineering
UR - https://peer.asee.org/27568
DO - 10.18260/1-2--27568
ER -