Case-based instruction in undergraduate engineering: does student confidence predict learning?

• Autores: Aman Yadav, Vivian Alexander, Swati Mehta
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 35, no. 1 (Parte A ), 2019, págs. 25-34
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Research on the implementation of case studies in engineering has suggested that students find that cases allow them to seethe relevance of engineering concepts to real world issues. Research has also found that students do not perceive cases to bebeneficial to their learning while actual learning outcomes suggest otherwise. The goal of this study was to examine therelationship between students’ perceptions of their learning confidence and engagement with their actual learningperformance for case-based instruction and traditional lecture-based approaches. Thirty-five students enrolled in anundergraduate engineering course participated in the study. The study utilized a within subjects A-B-A-B experimentaldesign with traditional lecture as the baseline condition and case-based instruction as the experimental condition.Participants completed a quiz to assess their learning and a survey to measure their perceptions of learning andengagement. Results suggested that students’ perceptions about their own learning did not predict their actual learningoutcomes while their perceptions of engagement predicted their conceptual understanding. We also found that cases canlead to significantly greater conceptual learning gains as compared to traditional lecture approach; however, case-basedinstruction does not influence measures of rote learning. Given that prior research on case studies in engineering hasprimarily focused on using student perceptions as proxies for actual learning outcomes, these results suggest thatengineering educators need to be cautious when interpreting student outcomes based on their perceptions. Our resultssuggest that engineering education researchers should be careful when using student perceptions to assess the impact ofcurricular innovations.