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Work in Progress: Introducing a coffee break to improve exam performance and reducing student stress in construction majors

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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

Construction Engineering Division (CONST) Technical Session 2

Tagged Division

Construction Engineering Division (CONST)

Page Count

12

DOI

10.18260/1-2--44294

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/44294

Download Count

201

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Paper Authors

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Raúl Esteban Toscano

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Vanessa Guerra University of Virginia

biography

Miguel Andres Guerra Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ

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MiguelAndres is an Assistant Professor in the Polytechnic College of Science and Engineering at Universidad San Francisco de Quito USFQ. He holds a BS in Civil Engineering from USFQ, a M.Sc. in Civil Engineering in Construction Engineering and Project Management from Iowa State University, a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with emphasis in Sustainable Construction from Virginia Tech, and two Graduate Certificates from Virginia Tech in Engineering Education and Future Professoriate and from USFQ in Structures for Construction Professionals. MiguelAndres’s research includes Architectural and Civil Engineering Project Management, Sustainable and Resilient Urban Infrastructure, and the development of engineers who not only have strong technical and practical knowledge but the social awareness and agency to address global humanitarian, environmental, and social justice challenges. For him, social justice is a concept that should always be involved in discussions on infrastructure. Related to STEM education, Miguel Andres develops disruptive pedagogies for STEM courses as a tool for innovation, and assessing engineering students’ agency to address climate change. Currently, MiguelAndres is working on a framework to support and conduct undergraduate research.

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Abstract

Traditional exams are widely used to assess students’ acquired knowledge in engineering courses, and although traditional exams have a purpose and a role, it is also known that they bring different levels of stress and anxiety to students, which can result in an inaccurate reflection of students’ knowledge or even poor performance. Although research shows this type of exam may not be adequate for all types of students, little is known about how to improve traditional exam assessment experiences. This pilot study aims to design an intervention—a coffee break during an exam—to help reduce students’ stress and anxiety levels and improve their exam performance. To assess the intervention, the authors used a qualitative approach to learn about students’ perceptions of the impact on their stress levels of including a coffee break in the exam. Open- and closed-ended questions were conducted during four phases: the days prior to the exam, and during the examination—before, during, and after the coffee break. Results of this pilot study suggest that introducing a coffee break during a traditional exam lowers students’ levels of stress, reduces their fear of failure, and improves students’ performance. The authors discuss the possible factors driving the results, next steps and explore the avenues academia could take to form better assessment methods. Implications for research and practice are provided.

Toscano, R. E., & Guerra, V., & Guerra, M. A. (2023, June), Work in Progress: Introducing a coffee break to improve exam performance and reducing student stress in construction majors Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--44294

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