2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Context Matters: Continued Study of Results of Common Concept Questions at Several Diverse Institutions

Presented at Will This Be on the Mechanics Test? Concept Inventories and Understanding Exams

Concept-based instruction is an approach to deploy “concept questions” which are qualitative and designed to elicit patterns of thought that complement or reinforce those required for procedural questions. Typically, concept questions are multiple choice with one “correct” answer among several “attractive distractors”. However, some concept questions may, by design, have “multiple defensible responses”, so as to engender debate and deeper discussion about multiple solution pathways, underlying assumptions, or other contextual details. Also, the use of concept questions is arguably most effective when written explanations of answers are also collected, so as to better understand students’ reasoning, including the possibility that an “incorrect” answer reveals some measure of conceptual understanding (sometimes referred to as a “phenomenological primitive”). Finally, use of concept questions is part of an evolutionary process of faculty development, in which the deployment, review of explanations, and feedback, is an ongoing process oriented toward effective teaching and learning outcomes.

A Community of Practice (CoP) of mechanics instructors from several diverse institutions (ranging in size, demographics, and identity), has been formed to use the Concept Warehouse (CW) as a platform to create, deploy, and assess the results of concept questions in Statics and Dynamics. The CW is an online tool that contains several thousand concept questions, called “ConcepTests”, that range over several topics in engineering, including approximately 800 in mechanics. The CW allows the instructor to deploy the ConcepTests in a variety of modalities, including online or offline, in-class or out of class, and with response time allocated to be “immediate” (say 2-5 minutes during class) or “extended” (say several hours or days as a preparatory or exploratory exercise).
The CoP has two teams, one for Statics, and one for Dynamics. During the 2022-23 academic year, each member of each team will assign the same four “common questions” from the CW, at the point and in the modality appropriate to their course. The following data will be collected from students: the answer to the question, corresponding written explanations (i.e., to explain or justify the chosen answer), and feedback (e.g., confidence and impressions as to the usefulness of the question). Some students and faculty will be selected for follow-up interviews.

This work is the sequel to a work-in-progress (WIP) article published and presented at the 2022 Annual Conference & Exposition, that was conducted by four faculty teaching Statics. The four common statics questions in this study are the same as used in the WIP. The WIP reported two general findings:
(i) across all institutions, and independently of correctness of their answers, female students consistently reported lower confidence in their answers; (ii) among students selecting correct responses, only about one third to one half expressed reasoning that was considered “correct”. Nevertheless, many “incorrect” answers contained portions of reasoning that suggested that some core ideas were being expressed, allowing for the possibility of further discussion to build understanding.

This study will add further data, including information from student and faculty interviews that was not available for the WIP, to validate or cross-examine these results. In particular, the notion that scores of a concept question are an imperfect measure of students' conceptual understanding will be further explored. The paper will also discuss if there is evidence to suggest similarities or differences results across the institutional contexts.

Authors

Dr. Christopher Papadopoulos University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez [biography]

Christopher Papadopoulos is Professor in the Department of Engineering Sciences and Materials at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus (UPRM).
Prof. Eric Davishahl http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9506-2658 Whatcom Community College [biography]

Eric Davishahl serves as professor and engineering program coordinator at Whatcom Community College in northwest Washington state. His current project involves developing and piloting an integrated multidisciplinary learning community for first-year engineering. More general teaching and research interests include designing, implementing and assessing activities for first-year engineering, engineering mechanics, and scientific computing. Eric has been an active member of ASEE since 2001. He was the recipient of the 2008 Pacific Northwest Section Outstanding Teaching Award and currently serves on the ASEE Board of Directors as Zone IV Chair.
Dr. Jean Carlos Batista Abreu http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5380-7682 Elizabethtown College [biography]

Jean Batista Abreu earned his Ph.D. and M.S.E. at the Johns Hopkins University, M.S. at the University of Puerto Rico, and B.S.E. with Honors at the Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, all in Civil Engineering. Prior to joining Elizabethtown College, he served as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Civil Engineering at Bucknell University, and worked as a Structural Engineer at Acero Estrella.
Dr. Brian P. Self California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo [biography]

Brian Self obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Engineering Mechanics from Virginia Tech, and his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Utah. He worked in the Air Force Research Laboratories before teaching at the U.S. Air Force Academy for seven years. Brian has taught in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo since 2006. During the 2011-2012 academic year he participated in a professor exchange, teaching at the Munich University of Applied Sciences. His engineering education interests include collaborating on the Dynamics Concept Inventory, developing model-eliciting activities in mechanical engineering courses, inquiry-based learning in mechanics, and design projects to help promote adapted physical activities. Other professional interests include aviation physiology and biomechanics.
Prof. Dominic J. Dal Bello http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8002-3226 Allan Hancock College [biography]

Dom Dal Bello is Professor of Engineering at Allan Hancock College (AHC), a California community college between UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. At AHC, he is Department Chair of Mathematical Sciences, Faculty Advisor of MESA (the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement Program), and Principal/Co-Principal Investigator of several National Science Foundation projects (S-STEM, LSAMP, IUSE). In ASEE, he is chair of the Two-Year College Division, and Vice-Chair/Community Colleges of the Pacific Southwest Section. He received the Outstanding Teaching Award for the ASEE/PSW Section in 2022.
Dr. Kurt M. Degoede http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0118-4951 Elizabethtown College [biography]

Professor of Engineering and Physics, Elizabethtown College. His research interests in biomechanics include developing clinical instruments for rehabilitation. Dr. DeGoede teaches upper-level undergraduate mechanical engineering using a Mastery-Based assessment model and design courses and first-year multidisciplinary courses.
Dr. Anna K. T. Howard http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0207-6757 North Carolina State University at Raleigh [biography]

Anna Howard is a Teaching Professor at NC State University in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering where she has led the course redesign effort for Engineering Statics. She received her Ph.D. from the Rotorcraft Center of Excellence at Penn State University.
Dr. Azize Akcayoglu
Dr. Hadas Ritz http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5396-2962 Cornell University [biography]

Hadas Ritz is a senior lecturer in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and a Faculty Teaching Fellow at the James McCormick Family Teaching Excellence Institute (MTEI) at Cornell University, where she received her PhD in Mechanical Engineering. Among other teaching awards, she received the 2021 ASEE National Outstanding Teaching Award.
Dr. William A. Kitch http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1485-4344 Angelo State University [biography]

Dr. Kitch is Professor and Chair of the David L. Hirschfeld Department of Engineering at Angelo State University. Before starting his academic career he spent 24 years as a practicing engineer in both the public and private sector. He is a registered pr

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