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Inquiry-Based Student Learning

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Conference

2001 Annual Conference

Location

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Publication Date

June 24, 2001

Start Date

June 24, 2001

End Date

June 27, 2001

ISSN

2153-5965

Page Count

8

Page Numbers

6.595.1 - 6.595.8

DOI

10.18260/1-2--9396

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/9396

Download Count

351

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Paper Authors

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Sridhar Condoor

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Richard Weber

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Abstract

In the traditional engineering curriculum, students are presented with and tested on factual knowledge. Very little emphasis is placed on their thought process, which is more important as it can lead to inventions and innovations. This attitude is reflected in the common answer “I don’t know” from the students who do not spend any effort or time to think. The engineering programs at St. Louis and Fairfield Universities have the common objective: Enable the development of conceptual engineering reasoning abilities. In other words, our goal is plant the seeds of reasoning that develop the student’s intellectual independence. We adopted a teaching model, which involves developing an appreciation for the design process and the functionality. Students developed thinking skills though cognitive inquiry based on “Identify an interesting configuration – Understand the core concept/functionality – Observe similar configurations.” After this exercise, students understand the concept, identify new situations and apply the concept. The students can then observe new everyday things in their environment and create a library of possible innovative ideas. The paper describes a teaching model with several illustrative examples. The examples cover a wide range of topics from engineering concepts to design. Also, included are case studies with our students dealing with cognitive inquiry of objects based on concepts and functionality.

Condoor, S., & Weber, R. (2001, June), Inquiry-Based Student Learning Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9396

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