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Session 2609

Assessment and Discussion Versus Lecture

Jack Wasserman, Richard Jendrucko University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Introduction This paper will present several different uses of class time other than a traditional lecture to facilitate learning. The methods are designed to facilitate communication between students and the instructor so that a clearer understanding of areas for emphasis is obtained. The work, How People Learn, by John Bransford, Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University emphasized the importance of the context of information as well as the use of modules to develop “just in time learning”. In engineering, critical thinking skills are considered to be essential. The teaching methods of Dan Apple, Ph.D., which are part of Process Education Methodology from Pacific Crest, emphasize the use of critical thinking skills in classroom communication. The methods to be discussed are: · Formal Teams · Critical Thinking Questions · SII Assessments · SII Self-Assessments · Spot Lectures

Of the above, the SII Assessments may not be familiar. Assessments need to be positive growth experiences. During the assessment process of an activity, the assessor needs to identify Strengths of the assessee demonstrated during the activity so that they are reinforced. The next need is to identify areas for Improvement. The assessor should try to provide a plan for the improvement rather than just observations. The last part is the assessment is Insights. The assessor may be able to generalize the something they have seen to a wider range of applications. The use of this format provides a very positive environment, which gives a much stronger probability for improvement.

The results of using the various methods, based on both instructor and student comments, will be provided.

Background The students in this course had all successfully completed the foundation courses of static, particle dynamics, rigid-body dynamics, strength of materials, and fluid mechanics. The initial set of statics problems revealed that a relatively small percentage could solve the classic problem presented. The majority of the students did not use the methodology provided in the past courses and they were unable to adjust to problem statements from other authors.

From the initial discussions with the students, it was learned that the students had treated the material in the previous courses as word problems from high school, where their critical thinking was focused on key words and matching an equation to use all the numbers provided in the

Proceedings of the 2002 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright Ó 2002, American Society for Engineering Education

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Jendrucko, R. (2002, June), The Learning Differences Between Using Student Team Discussions And Assessments Versus Tradition Lectures In Bme Courses Paper presented at 2002 Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada. 10.18260/1-2--11369