Working the Problems: Creating a Behaviorist Culture

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: Discipline-Based Research in Engineering Education

Abstract

By understanding the learning strategies students employ, educators can help students refine their strategies to engender more useful and accurate conceptual knowledge. However, in engineering, many instruments used to measure students' learning strategies do not contextually align with strategies students employ in problem-solving classrooms. Through the lens of behaviorist and cognitive learning theories, we qualitatively examined the strategies of 17 mechanical engineering students in problem-solving courses across two contrasting postsecondary institutions, and then compared these strategies to those captured by existing instruments. Our results indicate that students adopt primarily behaviorist learning strategies, supported by the ubiquity of behaviorist assessment practices. These strategies lack alignment with existing instruments, which follow a cognitive perspective. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Authors

• John Ray Morelock, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

• Holly Marie Matusovich, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

• Patrick Cunningham, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

• Amy Hermundstad