Stephen Crown, UTPA, Mechanical Engineering

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• Challenge-Based Instruction Transferring the
  Tools to Multiple Learning Environments

• Stephen Crown, UTPA, Mechanical Engineering
• Timothy Hill, SJSU, MIS
• Deborah Crown, SJSU, College of Business

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Abstract

• Challenge-Based Instruction Transferring
  the Tools to Multiple Learning Environments
• Track Track 1 Innovations in Online Teaching
  and LearningPresenters Stephen Crown, Tim Hill,
  Deborah CrownLocation Bayshore Foyer Date
  Friday August 14th 2009, 445 pm to 545 pm
• Challenge-Based Instruction (CBI) has been
  piloted in education for the hard sciences, and
  is emerging as an effective means of fostering
  adaptive expertise and students ability to
  innovate. This session will examine the
  principles of CBI, highlight examples of CBI
  application successes within STEM, and consider
  how the unique advantages of CBI might be
  realized in business education and other
  disciplines. Learning circles will also be used
  to explore how CBI might be used within other
  fields of study. Finally, we will open up
  discussion regarding effective strategies for
  increasing faculty commitment to this and other
  emerging instructional advancements.

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Outline

• Introductory exercise
• Presentation of CBI
• How People Learn
• Legacy Cycle
• Implementation (VaNTH and CCRAA)
• Examples
• Designing a Challenge
• Learning Circles
• Summative Assessment

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Vegas Card Game

• Pick the four of spades and win 25
• 10 to play
• Dealer reveals one card (5 to change your mind)

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Vegas Card Game

• The Challenge Determine the appropriate odds for
  this Vegas card game and present a convincing
  report to Vinnie. Note Dont mess with
  Vinnie

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Vegas Card Game

• What are the odds? (Probability and Statistics)
• How can you prove it? (LabView Simulation)
• Should you play this game? (Efficacy and Learning)

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The Need for Curriculum Reform

• Some minority students lack an equitable number
  of career influencers and role models within
  their families and familiar networks
• The lack of significant real world connections
  to classroom learning early in the curriculum is
  one reason why minority-STEM students decide to
  drop-out or transfer out of STEM undergraduate
  fields
• Focusing primarily on efficiency in early
  courses can stifle attempts at innovation in
  later courses

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LabView Programming Language
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LabView Programming Language
Student Projects Heat Transfer Fin Solver
Battle Tanks Four Function Calculator Home
Alarm System Hang Man game GPA Calculator
Memory Game Drinking Game Lottery Game
Temperature Measurement Heliocentric Model of
the Solar System Battery Tester Filter
Experiment Guitar Tuner Drinking Game
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Challenge Based Instruction- CBI

• A form of inductive learning, has been shown to
  be a more effective approach to the learning
  process than the traditional deductive pedagogy
• Built around the How People Learn (HPL)
  framework as realized by the STAR Legacy cycle
  (VaNTH)
• Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., Cocking, R. R.
  (Eds.). How people learn Brain, mind,
  experience, and school. Washington, DC National
  Academy Press (1999)
• Schwartz, D. L, S. Brophy, X. Lin, and J.D.
  Bransford, Software for Managing Complex
  Learning Examples from an Educational Psychology
  Course, Educational Technology Research and
  Development, Vol. 47, No. 2, 1999, pp. 3960.

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Challenge Based Instruction- CBI

• Teaching backwards Problem/Challenge first,
  supporting theory second
• Focuses on student retention and student
  adaptive expertise
• Emphasis placed on formative assessment
• Makes full use of technology to provide
  asynchronous feedback, support, and instruction

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How People Learn - HPL

• A knowledge centered environment provides
  students with tools to organize knowledge that is
  accessible
• A learner centered environment works within the
  context of what students already know and
  believe.
• A community centered environment gives students
  the opportunity to learn through interactions
  with peers, the instructor, and the professional
  community.
• An assessment centered environment relies on
  formative assessment to provide the student with
  feedback on their learning through correction and
  guidance
• The learning environments are complimentary and
  should all be present in effective student
  learning environments

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Legacy Cycle

• The Challenge A real life and open ended
  question that engages students and brings them to
  a place of inquiry about specific course content.
  Challenges generally grow in complexity with
  each cycle and draw on previous course content.
  Learner centered.

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Legacy Cycle

• Generate ideas Students are asked to generate a
  list of issues and answers that they think are
  relevant to the challenge to share ideas with
  fellow students and to appreciate which ideas
  are new and to revise their list. Learner and
  community centered.

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Legacy Cycle

• Multiple perspectives The student is asked to
  elicit ideas and approaches concerning this
  challenge from experts. Community and knowledge
  centered.

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Legacy Cycle

• Research and revise Reference materials
  including lecture content to help the student
  reach the goals of exploring the challenge and to
  revise their original ideas are introduced here.
  Typically this step and the next are revisited in
  several iterations. Knowledge and learner
  centered.

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Legacy Cycle

• Test your mettle Formative assessment is used to
  direct students to review previous step or to
  return for additional instruction. Summative
  instructional events are presented before moving
  on to the final step. Knowledge, learner, and
  assessment centered.

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Legacy Cycle

• Go public This is a high stakes motivating
  component introduced to motivate the student to
  do well. Knowledge, learner, and assessment
  centered.

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Implementation - VaNTH

• VaNTH Engineering Research Center
• http//www.vanth.org

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Implementation - CCRAA

• College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA)
  grant from the US Department of Education for
  Hispanic serving institutions (HSI)
• 100 million / yr
• 2 years of funding
• Focus on STEM and 2 and 4 year institution
  collaboration

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South Texas Initiative

• Increasing Student Access, Retention, and
  Graduation Through an Integrated STEM Pathways
  Support Initiative for the Rio South Texas
  Region
• Collaboration between The University of
  Texas-Pan American (UTPA) and South Texas College
  (STC) to facilitate student engagement and
  success in STEM areas
• Project Goals Increase enrollment, retention,
  and graduation rates in STEM fields
• 1.2 Million / yr
• October 2008 - September 2010

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South Texas Initiative

• UTPA
• South Texas (Edinburg, Texas)
• Component of the University of Texas System
• Comprehensive University
• 17,500 students, 85 are of Hispanic, mostly
  low-income, primarily commuter students
• 76 are also first-generation college students
• STC
• Similar student demographics to UTPA
• Began as Community College (STCC) in 1993.
• 22,000 students
• Two Bachelors degrees (Applied Technology and
  Technology Management)

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CBI Implementation

• 80 faculty trained in CBI
• Students exposed to CBI in 80 STEM courses
• CBI fully integrated into 10 courses supporting
  engineering
• Calculus I and II, Physics I, Introduction to
  Engineering, Statics, Dynamics, Engineering
  Graphics, Mechanics of Solids, Measurements and
  Instrumentation, Introduction to STEM

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CBI - Curriculum Reform

• NSFs VaNTH ERC studies have shown student
  learning improvement (in particular, AE) within
  the Biomedical Engineering student populations of
  its core institutions (Vanderbilt-Northwestern-Tex
  as-Harvard/MIT)
• One common course at UTPA (Intro. to Comp.
  Biomech.)
• Technical elective at UT-Austin and at UTPA
• UTPA course comprised of VaNTH CBI learning
  modules
• Effect size indicates a 78 probability that a
  student from the UTPA (experimental) group will
  learn a greater amount than a student from the UT
  Austin (control) group

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CBI - Faculty Development

• Train, mentor, and support a cadre of highly
  qualified STEM faculty in innovative inductive
  teaching methodologies that will have a broad and
  measurable positive impact on STEM faculty and
  students (i.e., LC implementation of HPL inspired
  CBI)
• Two-day workshops on the theory, impact, and
  design of CBI methods (by key VaNTH personnel)
• Mentoring workdays provided on CBI
  implementation, and faculty support through a
  web-based Teaching Toolbox
• Participant stipends

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CBI - Faculty Development
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CBI Designing Challenges
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CBI Learning to use Technology
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Outcomes - Faculty Development

• Faculty receive over 20 hours of mentoring and
  instruction
• Faculty will have developed CBI content that can
  be delivered and assessed in 80 courses
• Widespread implementation of CBI will allow for
  a study of its overall impact on teaching
  effectiveness and efficiency in learning
• The expected outcome is that this implementation
  of CBI will produce a measurable increase in both
  student learning, retention, and adaptive
  expertise

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Example in Statics
Your companys bridge has failed and it is your
job as the new design engineer to determine what
could have caused the failure of the bridge and,
as much as possible, defend the company. Is your
company liable for the accident?
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Examples in Engineering Graphics
How do you design and create a challenging and
entertaining cube puzzle?
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Virtual CAD World
A call has gone out to the people of the local
villages to assemble a force that will drive out
the rebel group occupying the fortress.  There is
a need for new recruits to be trained in the use
of CAD (Computer Aided Design).  New recruits are
to report to Caius in the training center at
once.  Enjoy your time here but take your
training seriously as future generations of the
virtual world are depending on your success.
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Virtual CAD World
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Virtual CAD World
You and your classmates are invited to take up
residence in one of the local villages.  To get
started first pick up a housing application at
the next window.  The clerk behind the sales
counter will be able to help you in the purchase
of a home.  Your home is a place where you can
display your individual work.  Visitors will
periodically enter your home to view your work so
take to keep it orderly and appropriate for
visitors.
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Designing a Challenge

• Identify significant course objectives and
  concepts
• Ensure that formative and summative assessment is
  practical
• Students must have some insight as to addressing
  the challenge (ideas, concepts, etc.)
• Students must recognize deficiencies in their
  understanding of related concepts
• Challenge must engage students
• Challenge should be a real world problem

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http//sites.google.com/site/stephenwcrown
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http//sites.google.com/site/stephenwcrown
Critical Thinking Skills It is imperative to
develop a child's critical thinking skills. By
developing a child's critical thinking, they
become better able to respond to problems
presented to them. Through this challenge, the
child will be better able to analyze information
presented to them and develop an independent
solution with reason.
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Learning Objectives

• Primary Objectives - By the next class period
  students will be able to
• Understand the benefits of playing a game with a
  plan in mind
• More effectively participate in critical thinking
  games
• Sub Objectives - The objectives will require that
  students be able to
• Express their ideas without reserve
• Willingly desire to triumph in critical thinking
  games
• Difficulties - Students may have difficulty at
  first in understanding the strategy presented to
  them.
• Real-World Contexts - Good critical thinking
  skills benefit one by allowing them to see
  problems differently and think things through so
  that they may form a solution.

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Model of Knowledge

• Concept Map
• Content Priorities
• Enduring Understanding
• Understand how to solve higher level critical
  thinking skills problems
• Important to Do and Know
• Formulate ideas independently
• Worth Being Familiar with
• Describe a persons physical attributes when
  presented with a photograph

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Assessment of Learning

• Formative Assessment
• In Class (groups)
• Students will play the "Guess Who" game
• Summative Assessment
• Students will play "20 Questions"

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The Challenge
How can one play the Guess Who game and be the
first one to guess the correct person / thing?
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Learning Circles

• Break into 3 groups
• Discuss Do you believe that CBI might have a
  positive impact on learning in your field of
  interest?
• Discuss What obstacles do you envision?
• Discuss What is a possible challenge question
  for a course you teach?
• Discuss How might you use technology with CBI in
  your own fields, programs, courses?

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Summative Assessment

• Reporting back by groups
• CBI in your field
• Obstacles
• Challenge questions
• Interface of technology
• Building a Network
• Conclusions