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The hands-on approach in teaching and learning is an important resource to be explored because it offers a meaningful platform for student-instructor interaction that fosters sound scientific reasoning and improves the understanding of abstract chemistry concepts. Experiment-centric pedagogy (ECP) is a contemporary teaching approach that integrates active student participation in problem-based activities through hands-on mobile devices. This paper describes how experiment-centric pedagogy (ECP) has been used to teach key chemistry concepts to undergraduate students in the chemistry discipline at Historically Black University (HBCU). To assess whether ECP achieves a lasting increase in undergraduate student curiosity and engagement in the chemistry discipline, ECP was implemented from Fall 2021 to Fall 2022 using an inexpensive, safe, and portable electronic instrumentation system usable in both classrooms and laboratories. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire developed by Pintrich, Smith, García, and McKeachie in 1991 was used to measure the key constructs associated with students’ curiosity and engagement. The classroom observation protocol (COPUS) was used to assess instructors’ effectiveness, and signature assignments were used to evaluate knowledge gains.
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Preliminary Experience and Impact of Experiment-focused Teaching Approach in a Computer Architecture Course in Computer Science
One of the key knowledge areas in Computer Science (CS) is Digital Logic and Computer Architecture where the learning outcome is an understanding of Boolean algebra, logic gates, registers, or arithmetic logic units, etc. and explaining how software and hardware are related to a computing system. Experimental Centric based Instructional Pedagogy (ECP) with portable laboratory instrumentation might provide real hands-on experience to obtain a practical understanding of those concepts at a lower cost compared with virtual hands-on laboratories that lack direct interaction with real apparatus or no integration of labs in the course. This work presents the initial adaptation of ECP to introduce the fundamentals of digital logic concepts in a Computer Architecture course in Spring 2022 for the first time in a CS department at a university teaching such courses without a lab and serving predominantly minority students. To establish a conducive and dynamic classroom environment by discovering course content through exploration, students majoring in CS were introduced to several logic gate types, worked with breadboards to connect circuits, and carried out operations to produce the necessary output using the commercial ADALM 1K Active Learning Module. To evaluate the impact of the ECP on students; performance in the class, three different evaluation methods were used, such as classroom observation, a signature assignment, and a Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) survey. The Classroom Observation Protocol for Undergraduate STEM (COPUS) findings indicated greater student engagement when ECP is used; the Signature assignment results indicated improved learning outcomes for students; and the MLSQ survey, which measures students; motivation, critical thinking, curiosity, collaboration, and metacognition, determined a positive impact of the ECP on the CS participants.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1915614
- PAR ID:
- 10467771
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Society for Engineering Education, 2023. https://sftp.asee.org/43945
- Date Published:
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- CS education, active learning, experimental centric learning, collaborative learning, project based learning, retention.
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- https://sftp.asee.org/43945
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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