Faculty Facilitated Study Group: Improving Students' Academic Performance in Engineering Courses

Abstract

Gloria Ma is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Technology. She has been teaching robotics with Lego Mindstorm to ME freshmen for several years. She is actively involved in community services of offering robotics workshops to middle-and high-school girls. Her research interests are dynamics and system modeling, geometry modeling, project based engineering design, and robotics in manufacturing. Many colleges and universities offer peer facilitated study groups (FSG) for various courses, which have proven to be an effective way to help students stay engaged in their program study and improve their academic performance. At Wentworth Institute of Technology (WIT), FSGs are offered for some generic courses such as Engineering Calculus, Physics, etc., which are required of all engineering students. However not many FSGs are offered for engineering courses due to the low enrollment numbers in each subject.Engineering Statics and Engineering Thermodynamics are the two fundamental courses in the Mechanical Engineering program, which are the foundation and prerequisites for other more advanced courses. Many students have difficulties in either Statics or Thermodynamics, or both.The authors have had experience as the only moderators hosting study groups to help students in engineering statics and engineering thermodynamics courses. Due to the increasing number of enrollment in the Mechanical Engineering program, student teaching assistants (TAs) are hired to help run the study group. In these arrangements, the faculty-lead facilitated study groups for Statics and Thermodynamics have one faculty and two TAs, and each FSG is a weekly study session open to all students who want to be involved in small peer group learning environment, get help for their homework, and improve their understanding of course materials. TAs are recommended by the teaching faculty in the related subject areas, and those chosen all have previously completed the course with an earned grade of B+ and above.The paper presents our findings in running the faculty driven peer FSGs for Statics and Thermodynamics. Of all eligible students who registered for these courses, more than 20% of the students participated in the FSGs. Post FSG survey data show 85% of respondents believed that their grades improved, and 57% believed that their grades improved more than half a letter grade. Students felt that they became part of a learning community, and had a space where they were comfortable asking questions. Other benefits were also obvious based on survey data: performed better on exams, understood the course materials better, kept up with the course more effectively. The TAs benefitted from participating in the FSGs as well. Survey responses from them indicated that the FSG experience improved their teaching and communication skills, and reinforced their understanding of the course materials. In conclusion, our observations and survey results show that students who attended FSGs regularly gained a deeper understanding of the ma...