scholarly journals CONCEPTS ONLY PLEASE! INNOVATING A FIRST YEAR ENGINEERING COURSE

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth N. McKay ◽  
Samar Mohamed ◽  
Lyndia Stacey
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Time Management ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Project Planning ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
First Year ◽  
Self Directed Learning ◽  
Student Centered Learning ◽  
The Impact

MSCI 100, a first year course dedicated to Management Engineering, introduces the main concepts of this discipline to students in their first term. The course’s main goals are introducing core principles that students will apply throughout their undergraduate studies and also preparing them for their first co-operative education term. In Fall 2015, this course was pedagogically redesigned based on authentic self-directed learning, accommodating different learners, and providing students with opportunities to develop professional skills (especially teamwork, project planning, time management and critical thinking).The course was designed holistically with emphasis on integrating concepts and communicating the course plan to students. Although engineering design was an inherent part of the course, there were no memory-driven tests and no math. The course’s learning outcomes were instead formulated around students’ understanding of improving effectiveness and efficiency in various facets of business through the development of their professional skills.There were numerous teaching innovations from the perspective of a first year engineering course. The essence of many course deliverables was for students to experience constructive failure-recovery cycles. This allowed them to learn from their mistakes as they completed case study challenges, hands-on activities, unique assessments and a final team project requiring integration of knowledge and skills. These activities were supported by various groups on campus.A panel of educators was formed near the end of the term so students could reflect on their learning process and be provided with the educators' feedback.. Moreover, the results from the course evaluations indicated that the restructuring of MSCI 100 was largely successful. Most students were able to fully grasp fundamental concepts and apply critical thinking skills. In this paper, we share reasons for redesigning the course, our experience in delivery and assessment, the impact of different teaching and learning methods and finally feedback on switching to in-depth, student-centered learning.

A Compass During the Storm: Offering Students Critical Rigor for Polarizing Times

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Andrew M. Wender ◽  
Valerie J. D’Erman
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Learning Objective ◽  
First Year

ABSTRACT Teaching and learning in higher education is occurring, unavoidably, within the broader civic context of today’s extraordinarily polarizing political times. We seek to help students situate themselves with respect to and, above all, thoughtfully assess others’ as well as their own perspectives on issues of profound contention, without contributing to exacerbated polarization ourselves. Specifically, we offer students in our first-year exploratory political science course a vital tool—critical rigor—for navigating but not being inundated by the storm. This article discusses our experiences in teaching the course titled, “The Worlds of Politics,” as we attempt to help students deeply engage in cognitive processes of critical thinking and analysis, without undue infringement from their own—and least of all our own—personal political biases. Our focal learning objective is the cultivation of critical-thinking skills that promote students’ drawing of distinctions between advocacy and analysis, as well as their discerning civic engagement.

scholarly journals Investigating the Impact of Model Eliciting Activities on Development of Critical Thinking

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Frank ◽  
Jake Kaupp ◽  
Ann Chen
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Learning Assessment ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Model Eliciting Activities ◽  
The Impact

This paper presents a portion of a study on how model eliciting activities (MEAs) impact critical thinking development in first year engineering. Model eliciting activities (MEAs) are realistic problems used in the classroom that require learners to document not only their solution to the problems, but also their processes for solving them. Studies have shown MEAs to be valuable in helping students to develop conceptual understanding, knowledge transfer , and generalizable problem--‐solving skills. This study is investigating the impact of the MEA- integrated course on students’ development of critical thinking skills. Ultimately, the team aims to determine whether the MEA-integrated course facilitates students’ critical thinking. During the fall semester of the 2012/2013 academic year three instruments will be used to evaluate the critical thinking skills (CTS) of first year engineering students. These instruments will be used as both a pre--‐ and post--‐test in order to benchmark CTS of the incoming first year students, and determine the effectiveness of MEA instruction on developing student critical thinking ability. These instruments are the Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level Z (Cornell Z), the International Critical Thinking Essay Test (ICTET) and the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA). This paper will present the preliminary findings from analysis of the MEA results and pre and post tests from the study.

Social Media in an Intercultural Writing Context

2015 ◽  
pp. 233-250
Author(s):  
Ma Pilar Milagros García
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
First Year ◽  
Writing Students ◽  
Thinking Processes ◽  
The Impact

The current research study is part of a larger project that aims to analyze ways in which first year intercultural writing students interpret/understand the impact of social media on their composition practices, critical thinking processes and knowledge negotiations processes. In particular, the current chapter attempts to understand how first year intercultural writing students reflect on and assess the ways social media has helped them practice and or/acquire more critical thinking skills.

Social Media in an Intercultural Writing Context

2014 ◽  
pp. 191-208
Author(s):  
Ma Pilar Milagros García
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
First Year ◽  
Writing Students ◽  
Thinking Processes ◽  
The Impact

The current research study is part of a larger project that aims to analyze ways in which first year intercultural writing students interpret/understand the impact of social media on their composition practices, critical thinking processes and knowledge negotiations processes. In particular, the current chapter attempts to understand how first year intercultural writing students reflect on and assess the ways social media has helped them practice and or/acquire more critical thinking skills.

Small Firm Audit Partner Hiring Crisis: A Role Play for Critical Thinking and Negotiation Skills

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 275-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
George R. Aldhizer
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Small Firm ◽  
Role Play ◽  
Terminally Ill ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Planning Stage ◽  
Skill Sets ◽  
Final Agreement ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACT This role play requires students to consider the complexities of a small CPA firm urgently attempting to replace the unique industry knowledge and experience possessed by a terminally ill audit partner. In this role play, students assume the position of either an existing partner or a former partner who is considering rejoining the firm. This role play includes two sections. First, in the planning stage, students brainstorm mutually equivalent options that satisfy their critical financial and nonfinancial interests to address the problem of replacing the terminally ill partner in their respective existing partner and former partner teams. Second, students engage in a “table” negotiation with their assigned counterpart to reach an amicable agreement to this firm crisis and participate in a debriefing session and prepare a debriefing document. The small firm context provides a unique opportunity to make contributions to the existing accounting and auditing literature related to enhancing students' critical thinking and negotiation skills. Distinctive small firm role play elements that should enhance critical thinking and negotiation skills include considering contingent agreements that dovetail differences in future legal liability forecasts, and dovetailing differences to take advantage of complementary skill sets to mitigate industry-specific auditor detection risks and related business risks.1 Critical thinking skills also should be strengthened through negotiating a package of interests and related options including the impact of various tradeoffs that are not fully known until the table negotiation commences so that the final agreement does not exceed the firm's non-negotiable budgetary constraints.

scholarly journals Enhancing Learning Through Reflection– A Case Study of SEEU

SEEU Review ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brikena Xhaferi ◽  
Gezim Xhaferi
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Good Tool ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Study Results ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Learning through reflection is one of the most interesting experiences that students might have. It is considered a very good tool for self-assessing learning. It is believed that “teachers who promote reflective classrooms ensure that students are fully engaged in the process of making meaning” (Costa and Kallick, 2008, para.5). Dewey (1991) was among the first researchers who based his work and research on the positive roles that reflection plays in fostering self-reflection and critical thinking. He has defined it as an active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief. Reflections give students opportunities to think and reflect about their learning and note down the obstacles they might face during this process. The present study aims to investigate the impact of journal writing in promoting critical-thinking skills, and its impact on enhancing learning. The study uses two instruments, a student refection journal and an interview. Also, Marzano’s New Taxonomy of Educational Objectives developed in 2000 was used in the third phase of the study. This Taxonomy contains Three Systems: the Self-system, the Metacognitive system and the Cognitive system. The overall study results show that reflection journals help students to become more independent learners, reflect on their learning experiences and identify the most useful learning strategies. Most importantly, all study participants hold positive attitudes towards reflection and they consider it as a valuable tool which can increase learning.

The Impact of Live Cases on Student Skill Development in Marketing Courses

2021 ◽  
pp. 027347532110345
Author(s):  
Shannon Cummins ◽  
Jeff S. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Time Management ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Skill Development ◽  
Handling Time ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Small Samples ◽  
Conflict Handling ◽  
Student Skill ◽  
The Impact

Live cases, where students work directly with an outside organization to solve real-world problems, can be an immersive learning experience for marketing students. Current scholarship on live case usage in marketing is limited to small samples from a handful of live case devotees. This article draws from a large, international sample of 169 marketing educators to investigate the perceived educational impacts of live cases on student skill development. Specifically, the paper explores student teamwork, conflict handling, time management, presentation, communication, and critical thinking skills. Additionally, the article explores how student skill development is affected by the amount of course time dedicated to the live case as well as faculty experience with live cases.

Impacts of International Baccalaureate programmes on teaching and learning: A review of the literature

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 240-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anisah Dickson ◽  
Laura B. Perry ◽  
Susan Ledger
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
International Baccalaureate ◽  
Thinking Skills ◽  
Critical Thinking Skills ◽  
Pedagogical Practices ◽  
Additional Stress ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
The Impact

International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes are growing rapidly worldwide, driven in part by their global reputation and concept-driven, inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning. This thematic review of a range of literature sources examines the impact of IB programmes on teaching and learning, highlighting trends, challenges, and benefits. Findings of the review revealed that most of the studies, both qualitative and quantitative, examined stakeholders’ perspectives or self-reported experiences of IB programmes; a very small number used research designs that control for confounding factors or allow causal inferences to be drawn. A wide range of stakeholders report that IB programmes develop research and critical thinking skills, intercultural appreciation and global awareness, as well as cultivate collaborative working cultures and creative pedagogical practices among teachers. Challenges include extra demands on teachers for lesson planning and assessment, additional stress for teachers and students, and competing demands and expectations with national requirements. Recommendations are provided which may guide future research endeavours.

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