The Benefits of Teaching Students the Language of Physics

2011 ◽  
pp. 160-194
Author(s):  
Jurgen Schulte
Keyword(s):  
Student Performance ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Common Language ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
Physics Courses ◽  
Respective Field ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
And Mathematics

First year physics courses for non-physics majors are among the most difficult course to cope with for science and engineering students alike. Not only are students confronted with physics specific concepts and mathematics applied in unfamiliar environment, students also have to learn the specific lingo of physics and keep it separate from common language and language used in their own field of major. Anecdotally, we know that students have to master the language of their respective field of study in order to master the field. We investigated the link between language of physics used in our first year physics lectures, understanding of related physics concept, and student performance after a language focused intervention. We found that a language conscious approach in first year physics not only improved the performance of students of non-English background but also benefited the performance of students of native English speaking background.

scholarly journals A DESIGN-CENTERED LABORATORY CURRICULUM FOR FIRST-YEAR BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING STUDENTS

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Lam
Keyword(s):  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Biomedical Engineering ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Laboratory Course ◽  
Structured Design ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Design Projects

A new first-year biomedical engineering laboratory course was created using a problem-based learning approach. Centered on four semi-structured design projects and experiments, the laboratory course was designed to facilitate meaningful experiential learning. Preliminary analyses of survey results suggest that the semi-structured nature of lab activities is viewed both positively and negatively by students, depending on their perception of preparedness for the project. Its correlation with student performance will be better understood with thorough study of other components of survey results.

A Regional University Perspective on Engineering Education of Multi-Cultural Freshman Students From South Pacific Countries

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krishnil R. Ram ◽  
Roneel V. Sharan ◽  
Mohammed Rafiuddin Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
South Pacific ◽  
Quality Teaching ◽  
First Year ◽  
Skill Sets ◽  
Ethics And Economics ◽  
Regional University ◽  
The University

Of late, there is a growing need for quality engineers who have the ability to solve complex engineering problems with reasonable knowledge of ethics and economics. This has led many universities to pursue accreditation by professional engineering bodies. While the accreditation process installs a standardized system of quality teaching, it is important that the engineering entrants have a degree of understanding that allows implementation of quality teaching methods. This study looks at the performance of first year engineering students in a bid to identify major issues that students face in a Bachelor of Engineering program. The learning of students in the School of Engineering and Physics at the University of the South Pacific is influenced by interactions of at least 12 different cultures from the 12 member countries of the university. The study looks at how students perform across cultures in the first year mechanical engineering courses, mainly engineering mechanics and engineering graphics & design. The general trend over the last five years shows that while the student numbers in the program have been increasing, student performance in one course seems to be improving but declining in the other; the two courses differ considerable in contents, required skill sets, and assessment methodologies. The study also presents possible reasons for the varied performance by considering issues such as cultural and academic backgrounds, use of teaching tools and resources, and revisions to the course and program and looks at how multi-cultural engineering education can be improved. The number of female students taking up engineering as their major is also looked at and positive trends are seen with female participation increasing from 7.6% in 2008 to 13.9% in 2013.

Sustain City

2019 ◽  
pp. 57-91
Author(s):  
Ying Tang ◽  
Christopher Franzwa ◽  
Talbot Bielefeldt ◽  
Kauser Jahan ◽  
Marzieh S. Saeedi-Hosseiny ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Serious Games ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Guidance System ◽  
Interactive Narrative ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Stem Fields ◽  
Science And Engineering ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
And Training

Recent years have witnessed a growing interest in interactive narrative-based serious games for education and training. A key challenge posed by educational serious games is the balance of fun and learning, so that players are motivated enough to unfold the narrative stories on their own pace while getting sufficient learning materials across. In this chapter, various design strategies that aim to tackle this challenge are presented through the development of Sustain City, an educational serious game system that engages students, particularly prospective and beginning science and engineering students, in a series of engineering design. Besides narrative-learning synthesis, supplementing the player's actions with feedback, and the development of a sufficient guidance system, the chapter also discusses the integration of rigorous assessment and personalized scaffolding. The evaluation of Sustain City deployment confirms the values of the serious games in promoting students' interests and learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

Engaging Students to Learn Physics and Mathematics through Short High Quality M-Learning Resources

2016 ◽  
pp. 432-452
Author(s):  
Luis Neri ◽  
Julieta Noguez ◽  
Jessica Morales Whitney ◽  
Gerardo Aguilar-Sanchez
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
First Year ◽  
Learning Resources ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
Educational Videos ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Learn Physics ◽  
The Impact

A methodology to design short high quality M-Learning resources aimed to engage students to learn Physics and Mathematics is proposed. Key characteristics to generate motivating mobile resources are identified and applied to produce educational video-capsules. Audiovisual design elements based on cognitive theory of multimedia learning are incorporated. Short videos covering central topics of Mathematics and Physics undergraduate courses that can be displayed on mobile devices are designed. A study case with first-year engineering students using the mobile resources is performed in order to assess student engagement. The results indicate that most students show a positive perception on the educational videos. A parallel study in order to evaluate the impact of the mobile educational videos on student learning is also presented. From this analysis it is suggested to incorporate the use of mobile resources as part of active learning methodologies. Some recommendations for designing mobile resources are presented, and suggestions for implementation of the resources are also provided.

scholarly journals Implementation and Student Assessment of a Two-stage Midterm Exam in a First-year Physical Chemistry Course for International Engineering Students

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roza Vaez Ghaemi ◽  
Gabriel Potvin
Keyword(s):  
Physical Chemistry ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
English Language ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Student Assessment ◽  
First Year ◽  
Two Stage ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Language Communication ◽  
Survey Responses

Group exams have been shown to improve student performance, retention of material, and teamwork and communication skills. This paper assesses the opinion of students regarding group exams, and their perception of potential benefits and impacts on their learning, before and after having participated in one. Both a traditional and two-stage exam were performed in first-year physical chemistry courses in the engineering stream of Vantage College at UBC, which means the participating cohort is entirely composed of international students with a range of English-language communication skills.The overall experience of students with group exams, based on survey responses, was positive, and the large majority of students indicated they would like to continue using this format of exam in the future. The perception of group exams improved before and after having written one, with the students initially overestimating the difficulty, stress, and level of conflict associated with this process. Some students indicated less confidence that peer learning helped them improve their performance after having written the exam, but further study to elucidate the significance and the causes of this result.

scholarly journals Using Incoming Data to Monitor Engagement and Inform Mathematics Support Interventions

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 15-27
Author(s):  
Ioannis Lignos
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Performance Data ◽  
First Year ◽  
Teaching Activities ◽  
Student Behaviour ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The University ◽  
Academic Year

Students who do not engage enough with their studies could place themselves at risk of underperforming or failing. Such a risk may be higher for students who are assessed in one or more mathematics modules and lack the appropriate background knowledge, or do not engage enough with related teaching activities. It has been shown for students who engage with mathematics support, there is a significant impact on student performance and progression in the relevant modules. Thus, improving the mechanisms of engagement with mathematics support should be a priority for any student success strategy.We discuss the monitoring of attendance and performance data of first-year engineering students, as it becomes available, in order to inform interventions which suit the observed student behaviour best. Specifically, the method described was used with first-year engineering students at the University of East London (UEL) during the 2017-8 academic year. We find that when monitoring processes are applied to an already tailored support package, they can often help maintain engagement levels, understand why some students do not engage, and prompt us to differentiate support further.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document