2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Active learning is widely understood to improve student outcomes, yet many active learning implementation efforts are focused only on undergraduate courses [1], [2], [3]. Factors that may inhibit active learning implementation in graduate courses include the belief that “rigor” and lecturing should go hand-in-hand in higher level courses, or a lack of community building more commonly seen in undergraduate programs. Here, we present an exploratory study that uses a focus group to examine the opinions of five students regarding the relationship between community building, trust, and active learning in a graduate Structure and Diffraction course in a Materials Science and Engineering program at Stevens Institute of Technology. Three central community building techniques were implemented throughout the course: a) the incorporation of a mid-class snack break, b) an optional weekend museum field trip, and c) the use of game-based student response systems such as Kahoot! and PollEverywhere. Active learning strategies such as small-group problem solving, hands-on instrument demonstrations, and student presentations were carried out in class, many of which also doubled as opportunities for students to build community.
Overall, students found the approachability of the professor to be a critical factor that promoted trust and community in the classroom, more so than any of the strategies that had been specifically introduced for the purposes of community building. Students responded enthusiastically to the instrument demonstrations and field trip in terms of the contribution to their content knowledge. In fact, content knowledge seemed to be at the forefront of students’ responses; each time a community-building strategy was discussed, students shared how this strategy impacted their knowledge of the course content.

[1] “Faculty Beliefs on Active Learning Strategies in Higher Education: Identification of Predictors for Use of Active Learning - ProQuest.” Accessed: Oct. 07, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.proquest.com/openview/44ce8040513424997fc867ac4fdfca64/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y
[2] C. J. Miller and M. J. Metz, “A comparison of professional-level faculty and student perceptions of active learning: its current use, effectiveness, and barriers,” Adv. Physiol. Educ., vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 246–252, Sep. 2014, doi: 10.1152/advan.00014.2014.
[3] L. Patrick, L. A. Howell, and E. W. Wischusen, “Roles matter: Graduate student perceptions of active learning in the STEM courses they take and those they teach,” Sci. Prog., vol. 104, no. 4, p. 00368504211033500, Oct. 2021, doi: 10.1177/00368504211033500.