Social Belonging and First-Year Engineering Mathematics: A Collaborative Learning Intervention

Abstract

Joanna Weaver is a doctoral student in Experimental Psychology in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. She is involved in research examining how instructional methods and social-cognitive factors influence academic achievement. She holds a Master of Science in Education degree from the University of Pennsylvania (2004) and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Wesleyan University (2001). She is a certified Reading Specialist (K-12) and Social Studies teacher (7-12) and taught in public schools and museums from 2003-2013. Dr. Marci S. DeCaro, University of LouisvilleMarci DeCaro is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Louisville. Her research focuses on the role of cognitive factors such as working memory in learning and performance situations. She studies these topics with adults and children in laboratory and educational contexts. Since completing his degree, he has been teaching engineering mathematics courses and continuing his dissertation research in cyber security for industrial control systems. In his teaching, Dr. Hieb focuses on innovative and effective use of tablets, digital ink, and other technology and is currently investigating the use of the flipped classroom model and collaborative learning. His research in cyber security for industrial control systems is focused on high assurance field devices using microkernel architectures.Dr. Patricia A. Ralston, University of Louisville Dr. Patricia A. S. Ralston is Professor and Chair of the Department of Engineering Fundamentals at the University of Louisville. She received her B.S., MEng, and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Louisville. Dr. Ralston teaches undergraduate engineering mathematics and is currently involved in educational research on the effective use of technology in engineering education, the incorporation of critical thinking in undergraduate engineering education, and retention of engineering students. She leads a research group whose goal is to foster active interdisciplinary research which investigates learning and motivation and whose findings will inform the development of evidence-based interventions to promote retention and student success in engineering. Her fields of technical expertise include process modeling, simulation, and process control.c American Society for Engineering Education, 2016 Social Belonging and First-Year Engineering Mathematics: A Cooperative Learning Intervention PurposeThis research examined the relationship between engineering students' sense of belonging and performance in a remedial first-year math class and investigated how a cooperative learning intervention might improve both students' affective and academic experience in this course. Many universities offer academic interventions to support at-risk engineering freshmen. At our university, Introductory Calculus for Engineers targets students identified as under-prepared or struggling in the freshman engineering math course. Although the intervention helps...

An Interdisciplinary Research Group’s Collaboration to Understand First-Year Engineering Retention

“…These conclusions expanded the interest in the activity of GEARS even further. Faculty and graduate students from the department of experimental psychology became more involved by investigating the impact of test anxiety [33] and interventions of belonging [34]- [36]. The initial GEARS survey of all first-year engineering students was modified to include items from validated instruments that could track repeated measures of engineering belonging.…”

“…o Students' perceptions of the relative contribution of effort (versus ability/ intelligence) to academic achievement is robust [27]. o A greater sense of social belonging is associated with higher grades in a remedial engineering mathematics course [34]. o Mindfulness benefits math performance by reducing anxiety associated with highstakes testing conditions [33].…”

Work in Progress: Common Reading Experience: Assessing the Impact on Perceptions, Identity, and Belonging Among First-year Engineering Students

“…If a student does not feel that they belong to a certain major, they may have difficulty engaging in the material or the community, and they may be less likely to persist (Smith et al, 2012). Increasing sense of belonging can be of particular importance for students in underrepresented groups -in engineering, women and underrepresented minorities -as they already may feel doubts that they can integrate into the major (Jordan, Sorby, & Amato-Henderson, 2012;Litzler & Samuelson, 2013;Walton & Cohen, 2011;Weaver, Decaro, Hieb, & Ralston, 2008) .…”

A Data-science Approach to Flagging Non-retention in Engineering Enrollment Data

“…This retention metric has been successful in identifying many performance and noncognitive factors that are significant within the first and second year of engineering school. Numerous studies have examined how a variety of performance indicators such as success in math and physics impact first and second year retention [5], [6], [7], whereas other studies have looked at other characteristics of engineering students such as belonging and motivation [8], [9], [10], [11].…”