Application of experiential learning to improve student engagement and experience in a mechanical engineering course

ABSTRACT

This paper introduced how a mechanical engineering course was redesigned by applying experiential learning theory to improve student engagement and learning experience. Design of machine elements has been considered by students to be a difficult course. Traditional teaching methods tend not to be effective in engaging students. Experiential learning is a philosophy of learning by doing. In applying an experiential learning approach to the course, the design project and workshop activities were restructured in such a way that students were engaged in direct experience and focused reflection to construct knowledge. By exploring a physical gearbox model, working on subtasks for the design project, having group discussions, raising questions, getting feedback, and moving forward for next subtasks, students experienced the learning cycles of ‘DO, OBSERVE, THINK, and PLAN’ many times. Course survey results showed that application of experiential learning helped to improve student engagement and learning experience significantly.     

Profiling the sport of stand-up paddle boarding

Stand-up paddle boarding (SUP) is a rapidly growing activity where only anecdotal evidence exists for its proposed health and fitness benefits. The purpose of this study was to profile elite and recreational SUP with respect to anthropometric, physiological and musculoskeletal measurements. A total of 30 SUP participants (15 recreational, 15 elite) and 15 sedentary controls participated in this study. Elite and recreational (rec) SUP participants had significantly lower body fat than sedentary (sed) individuals, elite had significantly higher HDL and significantly lower triglycerides than other groups during lipid profiling (P > 0.05). There were significant differences (P > 0.05) between all groups in maximal oxygen uptake (elite 43.7, s = 5.89 ml · kg^–1 · min^–1 vs. rec 31.9, s = 7.7 ml · kg^–1 · min^–1 vs. sed 20.4, s = 3.7 ml · kg^–1 · min^–1) and anaerobic power outputs (35.7, s = 11.1 W vs. 25.0, s = 11.7 W vs. 13.5, s = 7.1 W). The elite group displayed significantly longer endurance than the recreational and sedentary group in the prone bridge (elite 253.4, s = 67.6 s vs. rec 165.6, s = 42.2 s vs. sed 69.7, s = 31.2 s), right-sided bridge (elite 107.9, s = 34.0 s vs. recreational 68.2, s = 24.1 s vs. sed 34.6, s = 15.5 s), left-sided bridge (elite 99.8, s = 24.9 s vs. rec 68.2, s = 27.2 s vs. sed 32.5, s = 15.2 s) and Biering Sorensen test (elite 148.8, s = 35.4 s vs. rec 127.2, s = 43.2 s vs. sed 71.1, s = 32.9 s). Elite SUP had significantly better static and dynamic postural control when compared to the other groups. This study demonstrates the anthropometric, physiological and musculoskeletal values representative of elite and recreational SUP. SUP appears to be associated with increased levels of aerobic and anaerobic fitness, increased static and dynamic balance and a high level of isometric trunk endurance.     

The Student Integration Survey: Development of an early alert assessment and reporting system

This study describes efforts to develop a self-report rating scale (Student Integration Survey: SIS) that provides diagnostic information about students with academic and/or social integration difficulties. Data obtained from administration of the SIS to incoming freshmen at a postsecondary technical institution for the deaf in the fall of 1990 and 1991 were subjected to Rasch rating scale analysis. Fit of data to the measurement model resulted in a set of 28 positive and negative statements that empirically defined the concept of institutional integration in terms of their calibration hierarchy. This type of instrument calibration has the potential of providing person measures and item scale values that are invariant over a useful range of comparisons. The early alert reporting system provides an evaluation and diagnosis of observed responses relevant to expected responses for individual respondees. The substance and methods employed may provide a model for other integration assessment efforts.This research was conducted in the course of an agreement between the Rochester Institute of Technology and the U.S. Department of Education.     

Choosing letter grade evaluations: The interaction of students’ achievement goals and self-efficacy

We examined how achievement (learning and performance) goals and academic self-efficacy predicted three achievement-related outcomes in a college sample. Self-efficacy tended to moderate the effects of (learning and performance) goals on number of courses taken for a letter grade as well as achievement in letter graded and pass/fail courses. Thus, learning goals better predicted choosing letter grades when self-efficacy was high than when it was low. In contrast, performance goals better predicted choosing letter grades when self-efficacy was low than when it was high. Through their prediction of the choice to receive letter grades these interactions predicted achievement in pass/fail courses. In addition, achievement goals and self-efficacy directly predicted achievement in letter graded courses.     

Aversive conditioning of naturally produced reward and nonreward odors in rats

Past experiments have reported that rats encountering reward (R) or nonreward (N) goal events emit odors that can be utilized as discriminative stimuli for instrumental behavior by conspecifics. In the present study, thirsty male rats were aversively conditioned by ingestional toxicosis to R and N odors, and their suppression of water consumption in the presence of these odors was measured. Thirsty trained donors were placed into chambers containing R or N goal events to generate, respectively, the R or N odors. Test animals were given eight differential conditioning trials (four with one odor as CS+; four with the other as CS?), involving placement into an odorcontaining chamber with water available, followed by a LiCl injection on CS+ trials. Animals tested in their CS+ odor consumed significantly less water than did CS? and control subjects. Both R and N odors were conditioned by aversive means and readily discriminable from each other. This represents the first laboratory demonstration of aversive conditioning of such naturally produced odors, and it suggests that aversive conditioning may be useful in the study of odorous emissions generally. Implications for innate meanings of R and N odors are discussed.