Improving Student Engagement in Engineering Classrooms: The First Step toward a Course Delivery Framework using Brain-based Learning Techniques

This paper presents the findings from a preliminary study concerning the engagement of students in engineering courses at Tuskegee University, which is a historically black college/university (HBCU). While student retention is a challenge in many STEM programs, it is a very critical concern in HBCUs. Lack of engagement of students in classrooms is identified as one of the contributing factors to the high drop out rates in engineering programs. The study described in this paper is a first step in an effort to introduce the brain-based learning techniques in engineering classrooms. The instructors of mechanical engineering courses are systematically introducing pre-developed tools, referred to as “PROTOCOLs”, to deliver their course materials in the classrooms. This paper presents the findings from the preliminary data collected from a fluid mechanics class to explore the challenges that the engineering students face that negatively influence their engagement in classrooms. The key findings include the factors such as the gaps in their pre-requisite knowledge, their inability to relate theory to practice, and their inability to establish connections between related concepts. The paper presents the quantitative data pertaining to these categories along with their statistical interpretation. Further, the paper will detail how the proposed brain-based learning tools will supplement the existing teaching methods to improve student engagement by addressing many of these concerns. Introduction & Background Engineering students, throughout their curriculum, face many challenges that influence their persistence to engineering. Lack of student engagement in classrooms has been one of the serious concerns that cut across most of the engineering schools. This critical concern, often neglected in classrooms, results in serious attention problems among students, leading to their incompetence and poor retention rates. This issue is more relevant in HBCUs (Historically Black College or University) where the retention rates were reported less than 50%. A vast amount of literature shows that students’ academic engagement is correlated to their academic outcomes such as their grades, critical thinking and social engagement. Further, engaged students are highly motivated and develop stronger capacities for learning and personal development. Students get motivated when their basic psychological needs for engaged learning are fulfilled Over the past three decades, researchers have identified many factors that influence student engagement in classrooms including attributions, self-efficacy, perceived ability, motivation, learning strategy and goal orientations. In order to obtain a clearer picture on some of these influencing factors, a project titled National Survey for Student Engagement (NSSE) has been conducted and they identified five important benchmarks for student engagement. These benchmarks are: level of academic challenge, enriching educational experiences, student-faculty interaction, active learning and a supportive campus environment. In more recent work, these benchmarks are replaced with engagement indicators that are categorized into four themes: academic challenge, learning with peers, experiences with faculty and campus environment. The course material delivery framework outlined in this paper