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1. (2023). Assessment of a Particle Sedimentation Hands-On Learning Tool with Application in Blood Cell Separations. Education for Chemical Engineers, On-Line, 28-40. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ece.2023.07.001

   Kaiphanliam, K. M. (July 2023, Education for chemical engineers)

   Chemical engineers frequently contribute to the advancement of the medical field; however, medical applications are often only covered in elective courses. To introduce medical applications into the core curriculum, we implemented a hands-on learning tool that portrays blood separation principles through microbead settling in a core third-year chemical engineering separations class. Test scores from twenty-six students show significant growth at p < 0.001 from Pretest to Posttest I at average values of 41 % and 68 %, respectively. Posttest II scores reveal a significantly higher average score of 84 % for students who sat through lecture before the hands-on experiment in comparison to 75 % for students who first had the hands-on experiment then lecture with statistical significance of p = 0.046 and a moderate Cohen’s d effect size of 0.442. Students report positive, lasting impressions from the guided-learning worksheet and hands-on learning experience on their feedback surveys and one-on-one interviews. Retention assessments from four students six months post-intervention reveal retention of concepts with an average test score of 74 %. These outcomes suggest hands-on learning tools are most impactful on conceptual and motivational gains when supplemented with pre-experiment lectures and quality complementary learning materials. 

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2. The Impact of a Multidisciplinary Service-Learning Project on Engineering Knowledge and Professional Skills in Engineering and Education Students.

   Ringleb, S. I. (June 2023, ASEE New England annual conference)

   A multidisciplinary service-learning project that involved teaching engineering to fourth and fifth graders was implemented in three sets of engineering and education classes to determine if there was an impact on engineering knowledge and teamwork skills in both the engineering and education students as well as persistence in the engineering students. Collaboration 1 paired a 100-level engineering Information Literacy class in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering with a 300-level Educational Foundation class. Collaboration 2 combined a 300-level Electromechanical Systems class in Mechanical Engineering with a 400-level Educational Technology class. Collaboration 3 paired a 300-level Fluid Mechanics class in Mechanical Engineering Technology with a 400-level Elementary Science Methods class. Collaborations 1 and 3 interacted with fourth or fifth graders by developing and delivering lessons to the elementary students. Students in collaboration 2 worked with fifth graders in an after-school technology club. While each collaboration had its unique elements, all collaborations included the engineering design process both in classroom instruction and during the service learning project. Quantitative data were collected from both engineering and education students in a pretest/posttest design. Teamwork skills were measured in engineering students using a validated teamwork skills assessment based on peer evaluation. Each class had a comparison class taught by the same instructor that included a team project, and the same quantitative measures. Engineering students who participated in collaboration 1 were evaluated for retention, which was defined as students who were still enrolled in the college of engineering and technology two semesters after completion of the course. Engineering students also completed an evaluation of academic and professional persistence. For the engineering students, none of the assessments involving technical skills had significant differences, although the design process knowledge tests trended upward in the treatment classes. The preservice teachers in the treatment group scored significantly higher in the design process knowledge test, and preservice teachers in collaborations 1 and 3 had higher scores in the engineering knowledge test than the comparison group. Teamwork skills in the treatment group were significantly higher than in the comparison group for both engineering and education students. Thus, engineering and education students in the treatment groups saw gains in teamwork skills, while education students saw more gains in engineering knowledge. Finally, all engineering students had significantly higher professional persistence. 

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3. Accessible Playground Design: A Community-Connected Elementary Engineering Unit Focused on Designing Accessible Playground Equipment

   https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--36637  

   Dalvi, Tejaswini; Wendell, Kristen; Andrews, Chelsea; Batrouny, Nicole (July 2021, American Society for Engineering Education)

   In the ConnecTions in the Making project, researchers and district partners work to develop and study community-connected, integrated science and engineering curriculum units that support diverse elementary students’ science and engineering ideas, practices, and attitudes. In the community-connected units, students in the third, fourth, and fifth grades use human-centered design strategies to prototype and share functional solutions to a design challenge rooted in the students’ local community while scientifically exploring the phenomena and mechanisms related to the challenge. One of the units is “Accessible Playground Design,” a grade three unit that engages students in designing a piece of accessible playground equipment. It comprises 10 lessons, approximately 1 hour each, including a launch lesson, followed by four inquiry and four engineering design lessons, and a final design exposition. 

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4. The Effectiveness of an Accessible Computing Curriculum

   Arslanyilmaz, A.; Briley, M.; Boerio, G.; Loto, M.B.; Petridis, K. (April 2022, Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference)

   Langran, E. (Ed.)

   There has been a limited number of studies in which a computing curriculum is designed and developed for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), and there has been no study to test the effectiveness of an accessible computing curriculum for students with ASD. Therefore, the objectives of this study are 1) to implement an accessible computing curriculum at an inner-city school for seventh-grade students with ASD, and 2) evaluate the effectiveness of the accessible curriculum in improving students with ASDs’ learning of computational thinking concepts (CTCs) (sequences, loops, parallelism, conditionals, operators, and data) and their development of fluency in computational thinking practices (CTPs) (experimenting, iterating, testing, debugging, reusing and remixing, abstracting, and modularizing) by comparing two groups of twenty-two students; one group taught utilizing the adjusted curriculum and the other utilizing the original curriculum. Students' CTCs were measured by analyzing both groups' pretest and posttest scores, and their CTPs were measured by their artifact-based interview scores. 

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5. Studying the Interactions Between Science, Engineering, and Computational Thinking in a Learning-by-Modeling Environment.

   https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52237-7_48  

   Zhang, N.; Biswas, G.; McElhaney, K.; Basu, S.; McBride, E.; Chiu, J. (June 2020, In: Bittencourt I., Cukurova M., Muldner K., Luckin R., Millán E. (eds) Artificial Intelligence in Education. AIED 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science.)

   Computational Thinking (CT) can play a central role in fostering students' integrated learning of science and engineering. We adopt this framework to design and develop the Water Runoff Challenge (WRC) curriculum for lower middle school students in the USA. This paper presents (1) the WRC curriculum implemented in an integrated computational modeling and engineering design environment and (2) formative and summative assessments used to evaluate learner’s science, engineering, and CT skills as they progress through the curriculum. We derived a series of performance measures associated with student learning from system log data and the assessments. By applying Path Analysis we found significant relations between measures of science, engineering, and CT learning, indicating that they are mutually supportive of learning across these disciplines. 

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