2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Board 68: Integration of Learning by Evaluating (LbE) within the 5E Instructional Model in Engineering-Design Education

Presented at Design in Engineering Education Division (DEED) Poster Session

Adaptive Comparative Judgment (ACJ) is an assessment method that facilitates the holistic evaluation of entities, including student assignments. It entails a comparison between pairs of items to identify the superior one. This study explores the application of ACJ in Learning by Evaluating (LbE), which extends the ACJ process by incorporating student comments. This not only allows students to engage with the items but also enhances their understanding through the act of commenting.

In partnership with a diverse school district in the Southern United States, researchers engaged with high school students and instructors from the Foundations of Engineering and Technology course, a preliminary module for the Engineering and Technology Education pathways. With informed consent, teachers integrated LbE into their curriculum, specifically in the realm of engineering design comparisons. This integration took place prior to the students' engineering design projects, enabling students to engage with and critique designs from their predecessors.

The 5E instructional model, commonly termed as the 5Es, encompasses five phases: 1) Engagement, 2) Exploration, 3) Explanation, 4) Elaboration, and 5) Evaluation. Each stage serves a distinct purpose, fostering coherent instruction from educators and facilitating students in acquiring a more nuanced comprehension of scientific and technological concepts, attitudes, and competencies.

Given the widespread adoption of the 5E model in engineering education, our research aims to examine how educators embed the novel design artifact comparison approach, LbE, into this established instructional framework. Through content analysis, the study seeks to understand the nuances of LbE deployment in classrooms and its efficacy in promoting substantive student learning.

Authors

Dr. Wonki Lee http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0007-1023 Purdue University [biography]

Wonki Lee received a Ph.D. in Education, Curriculum Instruction, Language and Literacy at Purdue University. She received her bachelor's and master's, specializing in Korean language education as a second/foreign language, from Seoul National University, South Korea. Her research interests are self-efficacy, culturally responsive teaching, and machine learning in a diverse educational setting.
Prof. Nathan Mentzer Purdue University [biography]

Nathan Mentzer is a professor in the Purdue Polytechnic with a joint appointment in the College of Education at Purdue University. Hired as a part of the strategic P12 STEM initiative, he prepares Technology and Engineering teachers for state certification.
Amiah Clevenger http://orcid.org/0009-0007-5252-3638
Dr. Andrew Jackson http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2882-3052 University of Georgia [biography]

Andrew Jackson is an Assistant Professor of Workforce Education at the University of Georgia. His teaching and research interests are to support design-based learning and teaching in technology and engineering contexts. His past work has bridged cutting-edge soft robotics research to develop and evaluate novel design experiences in K-12 education, followed students' self-regulation and trajectories while designing, and produced new instruments for assessing design decision-making. Andrew received a PhD in Technology through Purdue's Polytechnic Institute, with an emphasis on Engineering and Technology Teacher Education, and completed postdoctoral research at Yale University. He is the recipient of a 2015 Ross Fellowship from Purdue University and has been recognized as a 21st Century Fellow by the International Technology and Engineering Educators Association.
Dr. Scott Bartholomew Brigham Young University [biography]

Scott R. Bartholomew, PhD. is an assistant professor of Technology & Engineering studies at Brigham Young University. He was previously in a similar role in the Engineering/Technology Teacher Education program at Purdue University. Previously he taught Technology and Engineering classes at the middle school and university level. His current work revolves around the use of Adaptive Comparative Judgment for student design learning, STEM teaching professional development, and teacher preparation.

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