2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Hands-on activities in the classroom are learning experiences where students physically engage with tasks, materials, and technologies to reinforce theoretical concepts introduced in lectures, instead of just passively receiving information during class time. These activities typically involve students manipulating objects, models, and tools while participating in interactive, problem-solving exercises. They can lead to better understanding of course concepts and can significantly enhance students’ motivation by making learning more engaging, relevant, and rewarding. However, improving students’ conceptual knowledge and motivation largely depends on how well these hands-on activities are integrated into the broader class context.

This study introduces Practice-Based Learning Activities (PBLAs) – a specific form of hands-on activity aimed at enhancing students’ conceptual understanding and motivation – and attempts to integrate them into the content and structure of an introductory circuits course. The purpose of this study is to investigate how those integrated PBLAs impact students' conceptual understanding and motivation, with a focus on four specific motivational factors proposed by Keller: attention, confidence, relevance, and satisfaction. A total of 213 undergraduate engineering students enrolled in the “Electrical Engineering Concepts for Non-Majors” course at a northeast university in the U.S. participated in this study. A pre-post, quasi-experimental design was used, with one section of the course receiving PBLA instruction (experimental group) and the other receiving traditional, lecture-based instruction (control group). Conceptual understanding for both groups was measured using an electric circuit concept inventory. While both groups showed slight gains in conceptual understanding, no statistically significant difference was found between them. However, on specific conceptual items requiring explanation, the experimental group scored 23 percentage points higher than the control group, which is significant. Additionally, students in the experimental group responded to a motivational survey at the midpoint and end of the semester. Responses at both time points were slightly positive, but no statistically significant differences were found between the groups in three out of the four motivational factors: attention, confidence, and satisfaction. The relevance factor showed a significant difference, though the experimental group reported higher average relevance before receiving PBLA instruction than afterwards.

Practice-Based Learning Activities have the potential to help students better understand course concepts and improve their motivation to learn. However, based on these findings, further work may be needed to uncover more effective ways to integrate PBLAs into course content and structure. Moreover, future studies should explore ways to design PBLAs that explicitly focus on motivational factors and make their learning benefits more apparent to students. Emphasizing how PBLAs can support students' future careers may further enhance their motivational impact.