Teaching Thermodynamics with Collaborative Learning

Larry Caretto

Mechanical Engineering Department

June 9, 2006

2

Outline

Background Teaching method

– Spend 50% of class time on group work– Use weekly quizzes to keep students current

Assessment Conclusions

3

Background

Personal motivation for this approach– Long term interest in getting students involved with

discussion during lecture– Educational research shows benefits of active learning

versus lecture for student learning– Survey data shows that students now spend less time

outside of class doing work than previously ABET wants assessment and improvement President Koester’s learning-centered university

initiatives

4

Koester on a learning centered university (August 21, 2003)

Learning in and outside classroom Specified learning outcomes Shift focus from teaching to learning

– Learning is “cumulative consequence and judgments for all aspects of the learning environment”

Document what students learn

5

ABET accreditation criteria are learning centered

ABET has already focused engineering education on cumulative result– Having graduates meet overall objectives and

outcomes is key to accreditation– ABET also emphasizes assessment and

continuing improvement– Improvement means that we have to examine our

practices as they effect student learning– ABET requires documentation of results

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How to improve student learning in an individual class?

Basic assumptions– Students do not devote much time outside class to

work on homework problems to learn material– In class lecturing, without active student

participation is not effective use of time– Students need motivation to learn material on a

regular basis

Each of these is addressed by the practices discussed here

7

Outline

BackgroundBackground Teaching method AssessmentAssessment ConclusionsConclusions

8

Course organization and teaching schedules

The course is organized into twelve subject-matter units, each taking one week

Each unit contains – Lecture on new material for 30 – 40 minutes– Group problem solving for 75 minutes– A 30 minute quiz– Feedback on quizzes for 5 – 15 minutes

Two different schedules tested and student preferences assessed

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Course organization with initial schedule

Each unit has the following time distribution– 30 to 40 minute lecture on new course material on

day N– 75 minute group work session solving problems

on new material with instructor providing help as needed on day N+1

– 30 minute quiz on material with 5 to 15 minutes of follow up discussion of quiz on day N+2

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Initial Weekly Schedule of Activities

Tuesday Thursday

Quiz on previous week material – 30 minutes

Group problem solvingFeedback on quiz solution 5 – 15 minutes

Lecture on new material 30 – 40 minutes

11

Course organization with modified schedule

Each unit has the following time distribution– Feedback on previous quiz 5 to 15 minutes on day N– 30 to 40 minute lecture on new course material on

day N– 30 minute simple group exercise on day N– 45 minute group work session solving problems on

new material with instructor providing help as needed on day N+1

– 30 minute quiz following group work on day N+1

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Modified Weekly Schedule of Activities

Tuesday Thursday

Group problem solving on material presented previous Thursday

45 minutes

Return quiz and discuss difficult points (5 – 10

minutes)

Lecture on new material

45 minutes

Quiz on material covered in group problem solving

30 minutes

Initial group problem solving (20 – 25 minutes)

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Lecture notes

Lectures use power point slides Students asked to respond to questions on

slides during lecture, but no assessments of responses collected

Handout sheets of slides made available on web for students to download

Students find notes more useful than lectures themselves

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Group problem-solving sessions – initial schedule

Students self select groups (3 to 5 students) Problems handed out at start of class

– Typically two problems to illustrate essential kinds of problems for week’s material

– First problem is subdivided into steps that lead students through solution

– Second problem does not provide steps

Solutions posted on web after class

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Group problem-solving sessions – modified schedule

On day of quiz the group activities are similar to those of the initial schedule– Solutions posted on web after quiz

On day of lecture there is a brief problem solving session that asking students to solve a modification of an example problem presented in lecture– Solutions included as part of lecture notes

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Instructor role in group work sessions

Prepare and hand out problems Get students working and encourage group

interaction in dysfunctional groups Answer group questions and interrupt all

groups to clarify common questions Lead discussion in final five minutes to

review what students have learned and give hints for unsolved problems

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Typical semester schedule for 30 classes of 75 minutes each

24 days to cover 12 instructional units with the cycle of lecture – group work – quiz

1 day for introductory lecture 2 days to review for midterm and administer

midterm 2 days at end of semester for final review 1 holiday

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Course elements and weighting in final grade

Homework assigned but not collected; solutions posted on course web site

Quizzes count 30% of total grade Midterm 20% Final 30% Writing assignment 10% Design project 10%

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Outline

BackgroundBackground Teaching methodTeaching method Assessment ConclusionsConclusions

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Five semesters of data

Assessments based on students present on day of assessment; grade distribution based on total enrollment– Spring 2003: 20 students; 16 assessments – Fall 2003: 30 students; 29 assessments – Fall 2004: 31 students; 19 assessments – Spring 2005: 31 students; 23 assessments– Spring 2006: 32 students; 24 assessments– Total is 144 students and 111 assessments

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Which schedule do students prefer?

Switched schedule after spring break Asked preference with five responses

– Initial much better (numerical score 2)– Initial better (numerical score 1)– No difference (numerical score 0)– Modified better (numerical score -1)– Modified much better (numerical score -2)

Used numerical scores for statistical analysis

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0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Initial muchbetter

Initial better No difference Modified better Modified muchbetter

Spring 2005

Spring 2006

Results of student preferences regarding schedule

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Mean student opinion is no difference in schedules

Average scores for two semesters are 0.09 and -0.04 (0 is no difference)

p values for null hypothesis that mean is zero are 0.81 and 0.90 for the two semesters

Although the mean score is no difference there are sharp differences of student opinion about which schedule is better

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Assessment questions

Students value course elements in helping them learn course material– Preparation for quizzes and examinations– Group work– Text reading and homework assignments– Lectures and downloaded lecture notes– Writing assignment and design project

Short abbreviation for these items shown on next chart

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Not useful

Some-what useful

Students value of course elements for their learning

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4 Spring2003Fall2003Fall2004Spring2005Spring2006

Very useful

Useful

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Students perception of course load and difficulty

Compare following items to other engineering courses– Time spent studying for course– Amount of material presented in course– Degree of difficulty of course material– Level of understanding of course material

Abbreviations for these items used on next chart shown in bold italics above

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Much less

About the same

Somewhat less

Students’ perceptions of course material and work required

0

1

2

3

4 Much more

Somewhat more

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Grade distributions

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

A/A- B+/B/B- C+/C/C- D/F

Spring2003Fall2003Fall2004Spring2005Spring2006

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Students self-evaluation of how well they learned course topics

0

1

2

3

4Fall2003

Very good

Good

Adequate

Poor

Very poor

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Conclusions

Assessed student opinion of course activities that help them learn the material better

This presentation covers one approach for teaching one course– Five classes with a total of 144 students (111

assessment forms) and no control group With this approach, students assess group work,

downloaded notes and exam preparation as most helpful items in learning