Abstract:The moments prior to the start of class provide many opportunities for engaging with students in a less formal setting. These moments can be used to establish a pre-class environment conducive to student motivation, focus, confidence, and ultimately the achievement of learning objectives. For example, the pre-class environment could include informal conversations between the students and instructor. These conversations can help the students develop rapport with the instructor, while giving the instructor an opportunity to evaluate student perceptions about course difficulty or workload. The pre-class environment could also be non-conversational. For example, playing music that is topically related to the class subject (e.g. playing "Good Vibrations" before delivering a lecture on mechanical vibrations) may increase motivation, focus attention, or generate excitement. As instructors will often have a preferred pre-class environment, there is a large amount of anecdotal evidence regarding its effect on student attitudes. However, there is little published material discussing on the impact (if any) of the pre-class environment on student learning objectives. This study uses a multi-dimensional experimental model to measure the impact of the pre-class environment on both student attitudes and learning objectives. Three different pre-class environments are tested: 1) informal conversations, 2) topical music, and 3) no activity. The influence of other variables such as gender, year, and major are also examined. Recommendations to enhance both are given based on the findings. Given the potential benefit, this work also examines some of the practical aspects of pre-class activities, including instructor preferences and the transition to regular class time.Background:

earned his undergraduate degree in civil engineering at the Universidad Tecnologica Centroamericana (UNITEC) in Honduras, and did his graduate work at the University of South Carolina. He received his PhD in 2014 and joined the engineering faculty at Quinnipiac University that same year. His interests are in the conservation of archaeological sites and in engineering education.