2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Enhancing Student Learning in a Blended Undergraduate Dynamics Course through Hands-on Mini-Projects

Presented at ME Division 7: Making it Matter: Projects and Communication

This study aims to assess the impact of hands-on active learning activities in the form of mini projects on student learning in a blended undergraduate Dynamics course. The study was conducted as part of an NSF-funded project through the “Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions (IUSE-HSI)” program. Dynamics is a fundamental gateway course required for many engineering majors, which students find very challenging. Traditional face-to-face instructional approaches involving concept discussion and problem-solving sessions are often insufficient to promote student self-regulated learning and motivation, as well as comprehension and retention of the required course concepts, thereby creating knowledge gaps that propagate to upper-level courses. The historical success rates of students in this course at the authors’ institution are typically low among all students, including the underrepresented minority student groups such as Hispanic Transfer students.
To enhance the learning experience of all students in the Dynamics course, several hands-on collaborative mini-project assignments were introduced in tandem with regular homework assignments in a blended classroom. Previous studies have shown that project-based activities in a collaborative learning environment promote critical thinking skills and improve student comprehension and retention of concepts. Grounded on the benefits of project-based activities from the literature, several mini-project assignments were designed and implemented in the undergraduate Dynamics course using simple and inexpensive experimental setups. The mini-project assignments targeted critical course concepts where students often struggled and were given out to students concurrently with the course lecture videos and in-class lectures covering those topics in the blended class. Some examples of concepts covered in the mini-project assignments include Newton’s second law approach to analyze forces and friction coefficients in particle kinematics and the application of rigid body rotational kinetic equations to solve for moments of inertia. Due to the large class enrollment, a three-week window was assigned to complete each mini-project activity. Student groups were required to submit a written report and a short video clip on each mini-project assignment upon completing their experiments. The impact of these active learning activities on student learning was assessed through course and exam grades, while self-reported self-regulated learning and motivation and self-efficacy were gauged through IRB-approved student surveys and interviews. Preliminary results indicate promising and positive effects of the hands-on mini-project activities on student learning for all students including underrepresented minority student groups such as Hispanic Transfer students.

Authors

Dr. Sudeshna Pal University of Central Florida [biography]

Dr. Sudeshna Pal is an Associate Lecturer in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Central Florida (UCF), where she teaches courses in the areas of system dynamics, controls, and biomedical engineering. Her current research interest is engineering education, with focus on blended learning, project-based learning, and digital and design education. Her educational research is supported by grants through the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. She has published several pedagogical journal and conference articles. She received the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award in 2020 and 2024, and the Teaching Incentive Program Award in 2022 at UCF.
Sierra Outerbridge University of Central Florida [biography]

Sierra Outerbridge, M.Ed., is a graduate research assistant and Education (Learning Sciences) Ph.D. student at the University of Central Florida. Sierra earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Samford University where she studied Spanish Language/Literature and Business, as well as a Master of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Central Florida. Her current research focuses on fostering self-regulated learning, technological innovation for student-centered learning environments, and strategic approaches to develop equitable educational opportunities.
Mohammadreza Chimehrad University of Central Florida
Michelle Taub University of Central Florida [biography]

Michelle Taub, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Learning Sciences and Educational Research and Core Faculty of the Faculty Cluster Initiative's Learning Sciences Cluster at the University of Central Florida. Her research focuses on measuring self-regulated learning across research and learning contexts, such as STEM classrooms.
Prof. Hyoung Jin Cho http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6563-4317 University of Central Florida [biography]

Professor Hyoung Jin Cho is the Associate Chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Central Florida. He coordinates two undergraduate programs – B. S. Mechanical Engineering and B. S. Aerospace Engineering. He has published over 130 peer-reviewed journal and proceeding papers. He has 12 and 6 patents granted in the U.S. and Korea, respectively, in the areas of sensors, microfluidic devices, and micro/nanofabrication. His current research focus is on miniaturized environmental sensors and sample handling devices. He earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 2002. He worked as Research Engineer at Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI) from 1993 to 1997. He received the NSF CAREER award in 2004 and was given the WCU (World Class University) Visiting Professorship under the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Korea in 2009. He is currently leading the NSF-supported HSI IUSE (Improving Undergraduate STEM Education) Project: Enhancing Student Success in Engineering Curriculum through Active e-Learning and High Impact Teaching Practices (ESSEnCe). In this project, a team of faculty members collaborate to implement active learning and high-impact teaching practices in engineering gateway courses to enhance Hispanic/Latino transfer student success.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 22, 2025, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 25, 2025

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