Supporting decision-making in upper-level chemical engineering laboratories

Burkholder, Eric; Hwang, Lisa Y.; Sattely, Elizabeth S.; Holmes, N. G.

doi:10.1016/j.ece.2021.01.002

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…The categories are summarized in Table 2 and a complete list of tasks is given in the appendix. We have adapted Wieman's original list slightly for clarity and to better match our specific context: we removed or combined three items and added three new items, including two items suggested by Burkholder et al (2021).…”

Section: Cognitive Task Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

A Hands-on Guided-inquiry Materials Laboratory that Supports Student Agency

Ford¹,

Fatehiboroujeni²,

Fisher³

et al. 2023

Advances

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Under the new ABET accreditation framework, students are expected to demonstrate "an ability to develop and conduct appropriate experimentation, analyze and interpret data, and use engineering judgment to draw conclusions." Traditional, recipe-based labs provide few opportunities for students to engage in realistic experimental design or develop a sense of agency, and research has cast doubt on their pedagogical benefit. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic forced institutions to move to remote learning. We developed a scaffolded series of remote lab activities for an upper-division mechanics of materials course, culminating in a collaborative guided-inquiry experiment design challenge. In the first iteration of the course, we mailed kits to students with basic supplies for the at-home experiments, while in the second students were expected to make use of readily-available household items. We analyzed 36 lab reports from the second iteration of the guided-inquiry lab and identified 25 unique approaches to the design challenge, an indication of a truly open-ended activity. Student outcomes were measured by post-lab surveys of attitudes and self-efficacy, as well as a standardized conceptual learning assessment. The fraction of students endorsing statements related to a sense of agency increased dramatically over the course of the semester: from 53% to 83% for goal-setting and from 63% to 92% for choice of methods. Self-efficacy increased significantly in the primary targeted skills (designing experiments and making predictions), but there was no significant shift in skills not explicitly targeted by the guided-inquiry lab (equitable sharing of labor, expressing opinions in a group, and interpreting graphs).

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Section: Cognitive Task Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

A Hands-on Guided-inquiry Materials Laboratory that Supports Student Agency

Ford¹,

Fatehiboroujeni²,

Fisher³

et al. 2023

Advances

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Research has clarified that there is value for diverse students in enhancing their agency . Indeed, Burkholder et al found that increasing agency, first in a more structured way that allows students to work together iteratively on a problem, then, in the next course, participate in student designed and led experiments, resulted in students feeling responsible for their own work, and fostered excitement even as they developed professional skills …”

Section: Conceptual Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…39 Indeed, Burkholder et al found that increasing agency, first in a more structured way that allows students to work together iteratively on a problem, then, in the next course, participate in student designed and led experiments, resulted in students feeling responsible for their own work, and fostered excitement even as they developed professional skills. 40 However, a key challenge when teaching with authentic problems is that the authenticity may place the problem outside of the students' experience, making it challenging for them to make decisions. In studies of makerspaces, where tasks are similarly out of reach, scholars have identified that students display agency in the form of help-seeking in the face of uncertainty and failure�that in recognizing what they need help on and in taking actions to get that help, they feel agentive.…”

Section: What Agency Do Students Have In Cures?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences in a Chemical Engineering Laboratory Promote Consequential Agency

Wilson-Fetrow,

Svihla,

Burnside

et al. 2023

J. Chem. Educ.

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While students can learn both chemistry content and inquiry practices by participating in course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), it is well documented that prior experiences shape perception. We conducted a case study to investigate students' first experiences with a CURE in an upper-division chemical engineering laboratory course, drawing upon interviews (n = 6), field notes, and written reflections (N = 31). We used discourse analysis to characterize students' agency as they navigated their uncertainty and made sense of the authentic research. We found that students' past experiences shaped their expectations about the CURE, with some wishing for traditional learning supports misaligned to CUREs. Offering students constrained yet consequential agency allowed them to recognize the authentic supports that were available, including help-seeking as itself a form of agency; understand failure as endemic to research rather than their own shortcoming; and position themselves as capable of navigating the uncertainty as a community of researchers. Our results suggest that instructors should model uncertainty and failure as endemic to research and position students as valued collaborators and support for overcoming abundant prior experiences with cookbook-style experiments.

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“…Moreover, the at-home lab component of this lesson provides students with agency (i.e., freedom in the decision-making process) by allowing them to choose which variables they would like to explore when investigating fermentation. A plethora of research suggests that promoting student agency in the classroom can help improve students' engagement and motivation in the sciences (9,10).…”

Section: Introduction Introduction To the Pedagogymentioning

confidence: 99%

Bringing Pasteur Back to Life: Studying the Biochemistry of Yeast Fermentation Through Discussion Groups and an At-Home Lab

Wodzanowski

Anonick

Genova

et al. 2023

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This hands-on, student-centered biochemistry lesson introduces beginner biochemistry students to the techniques of effectively reading and discussing primary literature, identifying fundamental biological concepts, and applying that knowledge to design their own experiments. Students begin by reading Louis Pasteur's article on the discovery of fermentation, a key biochemical concept in metabolism. Using guided questions while they read the primary literature, students dissect the key biochemical concepts of fermentation in student-led discussion groups. Following the group discussion, students "act like Pasteur" by designing their own lab experiment to collect similar data to that in the paper. For the lab activity, students utilize standard home-kitchen techniques and food-grade reagents to grow yeast in different microenvironmental conditions, such as temperature, pH, presence of oxygen, and substrate concentration in water. Here, students apply key laboratory skills such as designing experiments with proper controls, keeping a lab notebook, and communicating results. Students are given the opportunity to pursue variables they find interesting by performing experiments in their own home. Student understanding is assessed through group discussion, completion of learning issue questions, multiple choice quiz questions, midterm questions, and a lab report. This lesson features a diverse array of activities: reading and understanding the primary literature, participating in scientific discussion in small groups, and designing and performing experiments, all essential skills for any future biochemist.

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Supporting decision-making in upper-level chemical engineering laboratories

Cited by 13 publications

References 25 publications

A Hands-on Guided-inquiry Materials Laboratory that Supports Student Agency

A Hands-on Guided-inquiry Materials Laboratory that Supports Student Agency

Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences in a Chemical Engineering Laboratory Promote Consequential Agency

Bringing Pasteur Back to Life: Studying the Biochemistry of Yeast Fermentation Through Discussion Groups and an At-Home Lab

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