Comparing the Impact of Individual v. Cooperative Bloom’s Taxonomy-based In-class Assignments on Student Learning and Metacognition in an Undergraduate Fluid Mechanics Course

Phapanin Charoenphol; Arkasama Bandyopadhyay

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: MECH - Technical Session 12: Promoting Student Success and Motivation
Tagged Division: Mechanical Engineering Division (MECH)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/48484

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Paper Authors

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Phapanin Charoenphol Texas A&M University

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Phapanin Charoenphol is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the J. Mike Walker ‘66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University. She earned her M.S., and Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She teaches thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, engineering laboratory, and senior design studio courses. Her research interests include engineering education and targeted drug delivery. In 2022, she was awarded the ASME Best Teacher Award and earned the ACUE Certificate in Effective College Instruction.

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Arkasama Bandyopadhyay Texas A&M University

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Dr. Arkasama Bandyopadhyay is an Instructional Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University (TAMU). She previously earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics from Oklahoma State University and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Her research interests span the areas of distributed energy resources, residential demand response, building energy systems, engineering education, and first-year engineering experiences. Some of Dr. Bandyopadhyay's current projects at TAMU include forecasting of residential electricity demand and implementation of Bloom's taxonomy-based assessments in undergraduate mechanical engineering courses. In addition to academic research and teaching, she is heavily involved in mentoring graduate students and first-generation undergraduate students in engineering disciplines within and beyond TAMU.

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Abstract

This paper explores the effect of individual and small group cooperative Bloom’s Taxonomy-based in-class assignments on student performance and metacognition in two sections of a junior-level Fluid Mechanics course. In most undergraduate engineering courses, assessments require students to remember basic concepts and apply those concepts to solve simplified numerical textbook problems. These problems often do not prepare students to fully grasp fundamental course ideas, retain knowledge in the long term, and apply those concepts to solve real-world engineering problems beyond the textbook. In our previous research, we found that a minimal revision of homework, quizzes, and in-class activities to include questions at three additional Bloom’s Taxonomy levels of understand, analyze, and evaluate significantly enhanced students’ comprehension, performance on summative assessments, and overall learning experience. However, these positive results were evident only when implemented in an active learning classroom. In this study, we compare the impact of individual vs cooperative in-class assignments involving questions at the above-mentioned Bloom’s Taxonomy levels on student performance on individual formative and summative assessments. In particular, we aim to investigate whether small-group Bloom’s Taxonomy assignments encourage students to discuss various approaches of thinking about a problem and better understand the underlying concepts through back and forth of ideas, thereby improving their grades on future individual assessments, or if individual in-class activities are more effective at encouraging students to actively participate in their learning. Preliminary results suggest that a majority of students in one class section are able to accurately complete the in-class assignment in a group setting while a significant portion of students in another section are only able to answer the same questions partially correct when working individually. An end-of-semester survey will be conducted and analyzed to determine the impact of the two in-class active learning methods on student satisfaction and perceived learning.

Citation
Format

Charoenphol, P., & Bandyopadhyay, A. (2024, June), Comparing the Impact of Individual v. Cooperative Bloom’s Taxonomy-based In-class Assignments on Student Learning and Metacognition in an Undergraduate Fluid Mechanics Course Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/48484

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - This paper explores the effect of individual and small group cooperative Bloom’s Taxonomy-based in-class assignments on student performance and metacognition in two sections of a junior-level Fluid Mechanics course. In most undergraduate engineering courses, assessments require students to remember basic concepts and apply those concepts to solve simplified numerical textbook problems. These problems often do not prepare students to fully grasp fundamental course ideas, retain knowledge in the long term, and apply those concepts to solve real-world engineering problems beyond the textbook. In our previous research, we found that a minimal revision of homework, quizzes, and in-class activities to include questions at three additional Bloom’s Taxonomy levels of understand, analyze, and evaluate significantly enhanced students’ comprehension, performance on summative assessments, and overall learning experience. However, these positive results were evident only when implemented in an active learning classroom. In this study, we compare the impact of individual vs cooperative in-class assignments involving questions at the above-mentioned Bloom’s Taxonomy levels on student performance on individual formative and summative assessments. In particular, we aim to investigate whether small-group Bloom’s Taxonomy assignments encourage students to discuss various approaches of thinking about a problem and better understand the underlying concepts through back and forth of ideas, thereby improving their grades on future individual assessments, or if individual in-class activities are more effective at encouraging students to actively participate in their learning. Preliminary results suggest that a majority of students in one class section are able to accurately complete the in-class assignment in a group setting while a significant portion of students in another section are only able to answer the same questions partially correct when working individually. An end-of-semester survey will be conducted and analyzed to determine the impact of the two in-class active learning methods on student satisfaction and perceived learning. 

AU  - Phapanin Charoenphol
AU  - Arkasama Bandyopadhyay
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Comparing the Impact of Individual v. Cooperative Bloom’s Taxonomy-based In-class Assignments on Student Learning and Metacognition in an Undergraduate Fluid Mechanics Course
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/48484
ER  -