Nurturing Faculty‐Student Dialogue, Deep Learning and Creativity through Journal Writing Exercises

Abstract

One of the most difficult endeavors in the engineering curriculum is encouraging students to develop creative, independent thought and a deep level of understanding. To achieve these results, we incorporate journal writing exercises into the curriculum of a core chemical engineering course, ChE 363 (Unit Operations II: Separations) at the University of Texas at Austin. Students receive weekly prompts to develop analogies or thought experiments to describe fundamental concepts prior to discussion in lecture. This motivates students to learn material independently and deeply as they are required to link concepts to common life experiences. The instructor identifies three to five of the most creative and accurate analogies and presents them to the class. The class votes for the “best” one, which earns the student extra credit. The journal writing exercises promote dialogue between the instructor and the students, generating in‐class discussions that often extend well beyond the scope of the journal prompt.

Communication in the Engineering Curriculum: Learning to Write and Writing to Learn

“…"Since the analogies often describe real-life experiences, students feel closely connected to the discussion, which effectively promotes dialogue between the students and the instructor." (Korgel, 2002) In this study, students reported that the journals h elp ed th em d evel op deep er co n cep tu al understanding. The distinction between knowledgelevel learning and deeper conceptual understanding was also considered by Sharp, et al (1997) and Randolph (2000), who examined how writing activities can be used to engage students at all six levels of understanding described by Bloom's Taxonomy (Bloom, 1967).…”

“…Students are free to respond with illustrations, text, derivations, sample problems, etc." (Korgel, 2002) The instructor then chose 3-5 of the best analogies and presented them anonymously to the class, and extra credit was awarded to the student whose analogy was voted by the class as the "best". A primary benefit of the activity was the class discussion that preceded the vote.…”

Engineering Management In An Interdisciplinary Senior Design Project

“…One of the most difficult endeavors in the engineering curriculum is encouraging students to develop creative, independent thought and a deep level of understanding [12]. One major goal in this HAB program is to prepare students for the engineering profession.…”

Project Management in an Interdisciplinary Senior Design Team

“…In the HAB project, students participated in weekly lectures, seminars, and workshop aimed at enlightening them in issues and activities related to the engineering profession. One of the most difficult endeavors in the engineering curriculum is encouraging students to develop creative, independent thought and a deep level of understanding [6]. One major goal in this HAB program is to prepare students for the engineering profession.…”