2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Chemical engineering courses introduce students to novel concepts encompassing highly specialized applications of foundational chemistry, physics, and mathematics. In fluid dynamics, for example, the application of fundamental Navier-Stokes equations requires students to observe concepts under multiple contexts before they gain mastery. However, the fast-paced delivery of core curriculum classes can limit the number of quizzes or “low stakes” homework problems to practice a specific topic. Without sufficient practice, students will find recalling details and effectively applying concepts difficult to achieve during “high stakes” exams. Although the instructor can still advise students to consult supplemental resources and exercise habits of mind that increase practice opportunities, there is rarely a formal system in a didactic model course that helps support and motivate students to engage in this behavior.

This investigation explores how the adoption of a token economy can guide and motivate chemical engineering students in a fluid dynamics course to revisit concepts during the semester via revisions to previous assignment attempts. Under the token economy, students acquired tokens as they fulfilled expected class engagement standards and exchanged tokens to purchase resubmission opportunities on homework or quizzes, which rewarded back a portion of missed points to their assignment grade. It is also through these resubmission opportunities that students exercised goal-directed practices of identifying the original error(s) and explaining how the added revision resolved their error(s). Effects of the token economy on how the course was experienced were assessed through student survey responses with the focus around how introducing a token economy influenced students’ 1) motivation to revisit assignments, 2) perceived time commitment to the class, and 3) approach for completing assignments knowing that their original attempt was not necessarily their only attempt. From token usage analysis, it was observed that the combination of reward benefits and the number of exchanges available in this study’s token economy produced delayed interactions from students with most waiting until the end of the course to acquire and spend tokens. This lack of activity within the token economy also led to students experiencing little perceivable enhancement to instructional content from the strategy; however, the token economy was perceived to reduce student stress during the semester through the rewards it offered.