scholarly journals Undergraduate Accounts of the Impact of Lockdown on Their Self-Managed Reflective Development of Graduate Abilities

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 54
Author(s):  
John Cowan ◽  
Ellen Doorly ◽  
Clarissa Harte ◽  
Damien Madigan ◽  
Keomea O’Connor
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Civil Engineering ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Semester ◽  
External Facilitator ◽  
Individual Contributions ◽  
Reflective Development ◽  
The Impact

This account is mostly written by students in the first year of their discipline-based study of civil engineering. It features their self-managed development of graduate abilities in the second semester of an undergraduate Irish course in problem-based civil engineering. The principal abilities were creativity, problem-solving, presentations and teamwork. The case-study paper concentrates upon four students’ reports and reflections on their experiences concerning their second (partially locked-down) semester. Their accounts complement the review of the early weeks of their first semester experience, that has already been published elsewhere. They are joined by the tutor who was an external facilitator of their early drafts of reviews. He suggested the compilation and structure of this paper, and has assisted with the assembly of the condensed individual contributions.

The Use of Applets in an Engineering Chemistry Course

2010 ◽  
pp. 108-118
Author(s):  
B.M. Trigo ◽  
G.S. Olguin ◽  
P.H.L.S. Matai
Keyword(s):  
Cooperative Learning ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Chemical Engineering ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Software Applications ◽  
Engineering Department ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
The University

This chapter deals with the use of Applets, which are examples of software applications, combined with a specific methodology of teaching, based on Paulo Freire’s education concepts. According to his methods, co-creation between its participants is fundamental for the effectiveness of learning process. In that way, to promote a cooperative learning, the Applet should have interactive features. The Chemistry course of Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo, in which students take in the first semester of the first year of the engineering course, was the case study. First, a research with the teachers of the Chemical Engineering Department was carried out, to identify the main problems and difficulties teachers and students face. Then, a topic was selected to be explored with the Applet, which was developed and applied to a small group of students. To identify the success of this experiment a questionnaire was created and the results are presented in this chapter. Some conclusions were drawn and the interactive features of the Applet received a positive feedback.

A Case Study of the Integration of Self, Peer, and Group Assessment in a Core First-Year Educational Psychology Unit through Flexible Delivery Implementation

2011 ◽  
pp. 101-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rozz Albon
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
Peer Group ◽  
First Year ◽  
Collective Knowledge ◽  
Flexible Delivery ◽  
Complex Forms ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Learn Collaborative

This chapter provides a case study of one lecturer’s approach to innovativeassessment in a first year unit of university study of 188 students. Manyinsights are provided into the training, preparation, and assessmentexperiences of self, peer, group, and lecturer assessments bound togetherby technology for flexible delivery. The dynamic and complex forms ofassessment support the coproduction of knowledge sharing to harness thesynergy of collective knowledge. Specifically, this chapter presents theauthor’s use of theory used to inform selected assessment strategies.General issues surrounding group assessments, and the impact of graduateattributes and technology on assessment, introduce the case study andreinforce the fact that assessment drives the learning. The author hopesthat by sharing her insights, higher-education practices can better meet theneed for students to learn collaborative and team skills required for thefuture world of work.

scholarly journals A social-belonging intervention improves STEM outcomes for students who speak English as a second language

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (40) ◽  
pp. eabb6543
Author(s):  
Jennifer LaCosse ◽  
Elizabeth A. Canning ◽  
Nicholas A. Bowman ◽  
Mary C. Murphy ◽  
Christine Logel
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Academic Outcomes ◽  
First Year ◽  
Esl Students ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Social Belonging ◽  
Students First ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Postsecondary Science ◽  
The Impact

Students who speak English as a second language (ESL) are underserved and underrepresented in postsecondary science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. To date, most existing research with ESL students in higher education is qualitative. Drawing from this important body of work, we investigate the impact of a social-belonging intervention on anticipated changes in belonging, STEM GPA, and proportion of STEM credits obtained in students’ first semester and first year of college. Using data from more than 12,000 STEM-interested students at 19 universities, results revealed that the intervention increased ESL students’ anticipated sense of belonging and three of the four academic outcomes. Moreover, anticipated changes in belonging mediated the intervention’s effects on these academic outcomes. Robustness checks revealed that ESL effects persisted even when controlling for other identities correlated with ESL status. Overall, results suggest that anticipated belonging is an understudied barrier to creating a multilingual and diverse STEM workforce.

First-Year Community College Students' Perceptions of and Attitudes Toward Intrusive Academic Advising

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Donaldson ◽  
Lyle McKinney ◽  
Mimi Lee ◽  
Diana Pino
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Academic Advising ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Community College Student ◽  
First Year ◽  
College Student Success ◽  
Intrusive Advising ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

For this study, we analyzed the relationship between intrusive academic advising and community college student success. Utilizing a qualitative, single-case study design, we conducted interviews with 12 students who participated in an intrusive advising program at a large, urban community college in Texas. Analysis of the interview data revealed the benefits, limitations, and contributions to success of intrusive advising. This study addresses a notable gap in the extant literature, as few researchers have published empirical examinations on the impact of intrusive academic advising within the community college context. The findings can be used to improve the delivery of academic advising and student support services at community colleges.

scholarly journals The Effectiveness of Collaborative Learning to Enhance English Communicative Competence: A Case Study of the First-Year Students at Thepsatri Rajabhat University

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Sasilak Rodphotong
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Learning ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Satisfaction Questionnaire ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Post Test ◽  
School Schedule ◽  
Academic Year

The attempts of the present study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of collaborative learning to enhance English communicative competence and evaluating students’ satisfaction towards the instruction. The participants in this study were 1,471 the first-year students enrolled in the first semester, 2017 academic year. The students’ English proficiency according to the CEFR was A1. The instruments used were lesson plans, pre-test and post-test and satisfaction questionnaire. The lessons were comprised of various collaborative learning activities emphasizing at the following topics: self-introduction, school schedule, telling time, asking and giving information, food, leisure, describing people, describing things and giving direction. The period of experiment was 20 hours. The independent sample t-test was calculated to find the differences. The findings revealed that there were statistically significant differences at the level of .01 after teaching with collaborative learning. This indicated that the students’ communicative competence significantly improved. Besides, the satisfaction questionnaire was distributed at the end of the instruction and the results indicated that the students had a positive satisfaction towards the instruction.

scholarly journals The Effect of the Strategies of Multiple-Intelligences and Six Hats Strategies and Problem Solving in the Development of Eighth Grader's Scientific Thinking Skills in Jordan.

2012 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feras Al Sulaiti ◽  
Khaled Mifdy
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Multiple Intelligences ◽  
Teaching Strategy ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Multiple Intelligence ◽  
Average Score ◽  
Scientific Thinking ◽  
Significant Interaction Effect ◽  
First Semester ◽  
The Impact

This study aimed to reveal the impact of the strategies of multiple intelligences, problem solving, and the six hats on the development of scientific thinking skills among students in eighth grade in Jordan. The study took place in the first semester 2010-2011. The sample consisted of (217) students who were divided into three groups for boys and three for girls. The sample was a stratified random sample. The first group was taught according to the strategy of multiple intelligence, and the second group according to the strategy of problem-solving, while the third was taught according to the strategy of the six hats. Researchers prepared a test to measure the level of scientific thinking among members of the study. The instrument included five areas. The results of the study were: There were statistically significant differences between the average score of students who studied according to the six hats and the average score of students who studied according to the multiple intelligence, and problem solving in favor of the former group. Females outscored males (p ≤ .05) There was no significant interaction effect between teaching strategy and gender at (p ≤ 0.05). 

Probing the question order effect while developing a chemistry concept inventory

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly A. Undersander ◽  
Travis J. Lund ◽  
Laurie S. Langdon ◽  
Marilyne Stains
Keyword(s):  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Order Effect ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Concept Inventory ◽  
Order Effects ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Question Order ◽  
First Year University ◽  
The Impact

The design of assessment tools is critical to accurately evaluate students' understanding of chemistry. Although extensive research has been conducted on various aspects of assessment tool design, few studies in chemistry have focused on the impact of the order in which questions are presented to students on the measurement of students' understanding and students' performance. This potential impact has been labeled the question order effect in other literature and may be considered as a threat to the construct validity of the assessment tool. The set of studies described in this article tested whether question order effects were present within a concept inventory on acid-based chemistry. In particular, we tested whether the order of two conceptually isomorphic questions, one pictorial and one verbal, affected students' performance on the concept inventory. Two different versions of the inventory were developed and collected from students enrolled in the second semester of first-year university chemistry courses (general chemistry;N= 774) at two different institutions and to students enrolled in the first semester of organic chemistry (N= 163) at one of the two institutions. Students were further divided in two groups based on their self-reported level of effort in answering the concept inventory. Interviews were also conducted with a total of 19 students at various stages of the studies. Analyses of differences in students' responses to the two versions of the inventory revealed no question order effect in all settings. Implications for instructors and researchers are provided.

scholarly journals Componential Theories of Creativity: A Case Study of Teaching Creative Problem Solving

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Rennick ◽  
Kenneth McKay
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Specific Knowledge ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Domain Specific Knowledge ◽  
Verification Process ◽  
Engineering Pedagogy

Engineering is the discipline of applying scientific and mathematical tools to solve practical problems for society. At the core of a person’s problem-solving abilities is their creativity. This is a preliminary and exploratory theory-based paper summarizing the two most prevalent componential theories of creativity as applied to a case study. These theories outline a set of processes which contribute to a person’s ability to be creative in a domain. The components differ slightly between models, but include: motivation; domain-specific knowledge, skills, and abilities; and cognitive process of creativity including problem finding, ideation, and evaluation.To demonstrate the practical application of these theories to engineering pedagogy, they will be applied to a case study of a 2-day academic hackathon called “Tron Days”. Tron Days guides students through a multi-step modelling and verification process and concludes with teams of students designing and constructing a robotic arm. At the end of the second day, students demonstrated their functioning robotic prototypes. This event has now been run twice for first semester Mechatronics Engineering students, and similar implementations with different problems have been run in seven other engineering programs at the same institution. Each section of this paper will demonstrate the application of componential theories of creativity by drawing connections to the Tron Days event.

scholarly journals Transmission Chains or Independent Solvers? A Comparative Study of Two Collective Problem-Solving Methods

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyanoush Seyed Yahosseini ◽  
Mehdi Moussaïd
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Comparative Study ◽  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
The Other ◽  
Information Flows ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Individual Contributions ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Problem Solvers ◽  
The Impact

AbstractGroups can be very successful problem-solvers. This collective achievement crucially depends on how the group is structured, that is, how information flows between members and how individual contributions are merged. Numerous methods have been proposed, which can be divided into two major categories: those that involve an exchange of information between the group members, and those that do not. Here we compare two instances of such methods for solving complex problems: (1) transmission chains, where individuals tackle the problem one after the other, each one building on the solution of the predecessor and (2) groups of independent solvers, where individuals tackle the problem independently, and the best solution found in the group is selected afterwards.By means of numerical simulations and experimental observations, we show that the best performing method is determined by the interplay between two key factors: the skills of the individuals and the difficulty of the problem. We find that transmission chains are superior either when the problem is rather easy, or when the group is composed of rather unskilled individuals. On the contrary, groups of independent solvers are preferable for harder problems or for groups of rather skillful individuals. Finally, we deepen the comparison by studying the impact of the group size and diversity. Our research stresses that efficient collective problem-solving requires a good matching between the nature of the problem and the structure of the group.

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