Minneapolis, MN
August 23, 2022
June 26, 2022
June 29, 2022
First-Year Programs Division Technical Session 10: Best of First-Year Programs Division
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10.18260/1-2--41535
https://peer.asee.org/41535
448
Kayla Ney is a Master's student in Biological Systems Engineering at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. While pursuing her degree in BSE conducting research in the Orthopedic and Neural Engineering (ONE) Lab, Kayla has been analyzing data and evaluating engineering student reflections and metacognitive abilities. Her interests include engineering design curricula, engineering education in the biomedical engineering space, and strategies to better equip engineering graduates with skills that will help them prosper in their engineering careers.
Heidi A. Diefes-Dux is a Professor in Biological Systems Engineering at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln (UNL). She received her B.S. and M.S. in Food Science from Cornell University and her Ph.D. in Food Process Engineering from the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue University. She was an inaugural faculty member of the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University and now leads the Discipline-Based Education Research Initiative in the College of Engineering at UNL. Her research focuses on the development, implementation, and assessment of modeling and design activities with authentic engineering contexts. She also focuses on the implementation of learning objective-based grading and reflection.
Emily Stratman is an undergraduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She is majoring in biological systems engineering, with an emphasis in biomedical engineering. Her research focus is in the influence of reflection on students' metacognitive strategies. This summer she will be participating in an REU program at Utah State University and working on a project that measures students' spatial abilities.
This Complete Research Paper presents quantitative findings from an analysis of first-year engineering students’ responses to weekly reflections on their learning objective performance and plans and actions to improve their learning. Building capacity for metacognition is necessary for success in engineering studies and the profession. To prepare engineering students to be skilled professional engineers, it is important to understand how first-year students approach challenges in their learning. Studies show that many first-year students, even high performing students, struggle to develop metacognitive strategies that will enhance their learning. The goal of this study was to compare high and low performing students’ perceptions of their learning relative to their demonstrated proficiency levels as well as their metacognitive strategies relative to their learning plans and actions. Results demonstrate that higher performing students have a moderately better grasp than low performing students of their abilities, though all students struggled to complete quality reflections with an adequate level of metacognition to improve their learning. This study shows that students of any ability level can benefit from learning how to properly employ metacognitive strategies to develop and enhance problem-solving skills.
Ney, K., & Diefes-Dux, H., & Stratman, E. (2022, August), Low and High Performing First-Year Engineering Students’ Learning and Metacognitive Strategies Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41535
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