Preparedness of Engineering Freshman to Inquiry-Based Learning
Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 133, Issue 2
Abstract
Educational experts, past and present, urge engineering colleges nationwide to transform their pedagogical paradigm from a predominantly lecture- to an inquiry-based teaching approach. Written comments by two seniors, deploring having to read and write in a required course of an ABET accredited program, highlight a common expectation of today’s students. Presented are the disturbing results of a survey that assessed the level of learning skills exhibited by 1,020 engineering freshmen. Time management not only surfaced as needing drastic remediation but it also correlated with the level of students’ motivation to succeed in college. Problems with poor time management were listed by 25% of the freshman cohort at the end of the first semester. From monitoring the submittals of online homework it was learned that timeliness corresponded with the final grade achieved in a course. The work presented in this paper indicates that universities need not only to address the students’ learning preferences but also equip them with the skills necessary to engage actively in the knowledge-building process, a necessary sea-change in engineering education.
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Acknowledgments
The work presented in this paper was partially supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. NSFEEC-0212150. Also acknowledged are the help of Margaret H. Gjertsen and Brian Marks from WebAssign and Dr. Lori Petrovich who taught all three sections of Chemistry 101 during the Fall Semester of 2004.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 133 • Issue 2 • April 2007
Pages: 99 - 106
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 23, 2005
Accepted: Mar 21, 2006
Published online: Apr 1, 2007
Published in print: Apr 2007
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