Disruption in Large Classes during Active Learning Sessions

Abstract

Large class sizes are increasingly common in mechanical engineering undergraduate courses due to increased enrollments of undergraduate students with a disproportional investment to faculty numbers. Simultaneously, active learning is promoted to faculty members over traditional lectures due to published findings of improved student learning. Active learning typically involves a break in the lecture to allow for problem solving, discussion, or other activities. One common type of active learning in large classes is classroom response systems (e.g. clickers). Based on classroom experience, the use of active learning with classroom response systems in large classes, particularly in the first year, can lead to a disruptive learning environment. In this preliminary study, a 1 st year course and a 4 th year course (n=120 and 135, respectively) were surveyed in Fall of 2015 to quantify student's ratings of active learning with classroom response systems and disruption. The student's impressions of active learning (e.g., interactive clicker problem solving) were assessed using a survey at the end of the course. Students were overwhelmingly positive about the advantages of active learning (>80% responded favorably) in the both courses. However, the students in the 1 st year course had less positive feedback on active learning and higher ratings of disruption in the classroom than the students in the 4 th year course (34% rated as disruptive in 1 st year, 14% rated disruptive in the 4 th year). The class rank, where higher values represented a greater number of years past secondary school, was positively correlated with rankings of a more disruptive environment suggesting that nontraditional students may find active learning more disruptive. This preliminary study suggests that using classroom response systems (clickers) in the 1 st year curriculum with large class sizes may lead students to feel that the class was disruptive and that active learning was not as positive of an experience as active learning environments later in the curriculum.

Student Assessment of Active Learning Elements in 100-level Introductory Biomedical Engineering Course

“…This frustration with perceived disorganization was also reflected in the survey comments from older students, including that of the 20-year old student quoted above. They were more likely to find the active learning sessions, especially those which did not include problem-solving exercises, as "busy work" and unnecessary for their success in the class and may reflect differences in motivational factors and preferred learning environments noted by some researchers [32], [33]. The differences in gender are more puzzling and are contrary to what has been reported in studies of active learning implementation in other STEM courses [34], [35].…”

Applied Knowledge Retention – Are Active Learning Tools the Solution?

“…Prince reports that students retain knowledge better when lectures are interspersed with brief periods of activity [15] . Simply adding the use of clickers during lecture classes is not perceived as active learning by students [24] . Butler says that using active learning breaks during lectures can help students retain the concepts being studied [25] .…”

Fun and Interactive Activities for an Introductory Computer Science Course of 200 Students

“…The nine activities that will be covered in detail below are as follows: (1) Understanding Variables and Arrays with Paper Bags [2], (2) Branching and Looping Statements with Starburst Candies [2], (3) Loops with Music [3], (4) Arrays with Tissue Boxes, DVD Sets, Paper Plates, and other Household Goods [2], (5) Monsters Hate Chocolate: Learning Try/Catch Blocks [2], (6) General Class Structure with Bags, Boxes, and a Bin [2], (7) Dr. Doolittle's Vet Office: Learning Classes with Stuffed Animals [2], (8) Sorting Algorithms with Paper Bags [3], and (9) Recursion Introduction: Simple Tower of Hanoi with Colored Paper [3]. Key topics covered by these activities include: (1) variables, (2) arrays, (3) if statements, (4) loops, (5) Try/ Catch blocks, (6) Exceptions, (7) classes, (8) sort algorithms, and (9) recursion.…”

“…Teaching lectures with hundreds of students in a large lecture hall comes with a variety of challenges. The addition of active learning into large classrooms has been shown to be highly effective overall [4] but it has been reported that is often less effective with freshman than senior courses [5] and comes with logistical issues [4]. The authors will be focusing on overcoming these logistical issues for activities designed for a smaller classroom.…”