Board 412: Thinking with Mechanical Objects: A Think-Aloud Protocol Study to Understand Students’ Learning of Difficult and Abstract Thermodynamic Concepts

Beyza Nur Guler; Talha Bin Asad; Diana Bairaktarova

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topic: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 9
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--42726
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/42726
Download Count: 75

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Paper Authors

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Beyza Nur Guler Virginia Tech

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Beyza Nur Guler is a 1st year PhD student in Engineering Education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, with a background in Structural Engineering. Her research interests include bridging the gap between theory and practice in structural engineering, neurodiversity in engineering, maker-spaces and making difficult & abstract concepts accessible to students by designing appropriate interventions

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Talha Bin Asad Virginia Tech

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I was born and raised in Mandi Bahauddin, a small city whose claim to fame is that it is where Alexander The Great famously fought his last major campaign against Raja Porus.

In 2015, I completed my BS in Mechatronics Engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan, where I worked on designing the electrical and mechanical components of a wireless surveillance robot. My team and I developed and prototyped a fully operational UGV that provided multi-terrain surveillance. Our project presentation garnered a great deal of interest from industrial partners at our Open House.

The following year, I secured a fully funded MS position in the graduate Mechanical Engineering program at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in Shanghai, China. As a Research Assistant in the Robotics and Automation Lab under Professor Zhanhua Xiong, I discovered an aptitude for mechanical design. I utilized this newfound talent to build a one-handed, 6-axical robot joystick controller and validated its design through 3-D printing. I presented my novel design at the IEEE/ASME Advanced Intelligent Mechatronics 2018 Conference in Auckland, New Zealand.

While in Shanghai, I also began to play badminton a bit more seriously. Although I had played badminton competitively before in Pakistan, the quality of the opponents I faced in China honed my ability to a level I had never experienced before. A rather debilitating knee injury slowed down my semi-professional career, but I recovered enough to still win a number of championships and local tournaments.

Its difficult to describe one's entire life in a handful of words, but I've given it my best shot. Onwards and upwards has been my personal mantra throughout my academic and professional career. I now hope to continue my previous research in mechanical design while addressing the biggest problems in Engineering Education. My eventual goal is to address the ever-growing need of a better education system in Pakistan.

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Diana Bairaktarova Virginia Tech

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Dr. Diana Bairaktarova is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. Through real-world engineering applications, Dr. Bairaktarovaâ€™s experiential learning research spans from engineering to psychology to learning

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Abstract

Since Froebelian time, tangible objects have been used in education to facilitate learning of concrete and abstract phenomena. The efficacy of humanly made artifacts in educational settings are widely studied in art, communications, and more recently in STEM education. In engineering education, the benefits of tangible objects have been predominantly studied in subjects like design. Engineers are surrounded by physical artifacts throughout their education and work-place environments. Our research project addresses the effectiveness of such interventions for engineering design, problem solving, including conceptual understanding of abstract and difficult concepts. Further, the study explores the relationship of mechanical objects and mechanical engineering students when learning abstract and difficult concepts related to thermodynamics. This work-in-progress presented study is part of a larger project (mentioned above) that looks at students’ mental models when objects are present in problem-solving activities. Participants in the larger study are (N=160) undergraduate junior students, enrolled in a semester-long thermodynamics class. Prior to the start of the semester, students were asked to complete a concept inventory. During the course, students were provided with 3 conceptually difficult and abstract problems (as identified by literature): work and heat, psychometric applications, and entropy. The control and experimental group took place in two different sections of the course, taught by the same instructor. While the control group was provided with only the problem description, the experimental group was also given mechanical objects related to the problem at hand. Students’ solutions were graded by two mechanical engineering graduate students who were blind to the treatment, and the improvement on student performance on the final exam was assessed. In addition, since the students took the concept inventory at the end of the course, the gains in conceptual understanding was also analyzed. In order to identify cognitive processes involved in solving engineering related problems, the current study investigates how students engage in problem- solving and attempt to use mechanical objects. Participants were selected based on their grades on the three problems and invited to participate in a think aloud protocol study. To ensure that all students have the opportunity to participate in the study, everyone was invited and those who identified interest were invited to the study. The researchers also ensure participation from students in the categories of low, average and high performance on the three problems. Using a think-aloud protocol, 60 selected participants (30 from the control group and 30 from the experimental group) were observed about how they verbalize their thoughts during the problem-solving activity. We will present the initial coding procedure and initial emerging themes in the work-in-progress paper.

Citation
Format

Guler, B. N., & Asad, T. B., & Bairaktarova, D. (2023, June), Board 412: Thinking with Mechanical Objects: A Think-Aloud Protocol Study to Understand Students’ Learning of Difficult and Abstract Thermodynamic Concepts Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--42726

TY - CPAPER
AB - Since Froebelian time, tangible objects have been used in education to facilitate learning of concrete and abstract phenomena. The efficacy of humanly made artifacts in educational settings are widely studied in art, communications, and more recently in STEM education. In engineering education, the benefits of tangible objects have been predominantly studied in subjects like design. Engineers are surrounded by physical artifacts throughout their education and work-place environments. Our research project addresses the effectiveness of such interventions for engineering design, problem solving, including conceptual understanding of abstract and difficult concepts. Further, the study explores the relationship of mechanical objects and mechanical engineering students when learning abstract and difficult concepts related to thermodynamics.
This work-in-progress presented study is part of a larger project (mentioned above) that looks at students’ mental models when objects are present in problem-solving activities. Participants in the larger study are (N=160) undergraduate junior students, enrolled in a semester-long thermodynamics class. Prior to the start of the semester, students were asked to complete a concept inventory. During the course, students were provided with 3 conceptually difficult and abstract problems (as identified by literature): work and heat, psychometric applications, and entropy. The control and experimental group took place in two different sections of the course, taught by the same instructor. While the control group was provided with only the problem description, the experimental group was also given mechanical objects related to the problem at hand. Students’ solutions were graded by two mechanical engineering graduate students who were blind to the treatment, and the improvement on student performance on the final exam was assessed. In addition, since the students took the concept inventory at the end of the course, the gains in conceptual understanding was also analyzed.
In order to identify cognitive processes involved in solving engineering related problems, the current study investigates how students engage in problem- solving and attempt to use mechanical objects. Participants were selected based on their grades on the three problems and invited to participate in a think aloud protocol study. To ensure that all students have the opportunity to participate in the study, everyone was invited and those who identified interest were invited to the study. The researchers also ensure participation from students in the categories of low, average and high performance on the three problems. Using a think-aloud protocol, 60 selected participants (30 from the control group and 30 from the experimental group) were observed about how they verbalize their thoughts during the problem-solving activity. We will present the initial coding procedure and initial emerging themes in the work-in-progress paper.

AU - Beyza Nur Guler
AU - Talha Bin Asad
AU - Diana Bairaktarova
CY - Baltimore , Maryland
DA - 2023/06/25
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Board 412: Thinking with Mechanical Objects: A Think-Aloud Protocol Study to Understand Students’ Learning of Difficult and Abstract Thermodynamic Concepts
UR - https://peer.asee.org/42726
DO - 10.18260/1-2--42726
ER -