Characterizing software engineering students’ discussions during peer instruction: opportunities for learning and implications for teaching

• Autores: Tom Adawi, Håkan Burden, Dennis Olsson
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 32, no. Extra 2 (Parte B ), 2016 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Trends in Software Engineering for Engineering Education), págs. 927-936
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Peer instruction is a method for activating students during lectures, which has gained a considerable amount of attention inhigher education due to claims of dramatic improvement in learning gains. The purpose of this qualitative research study isto investigate what types of discussions engineering students engage in during a peer instruction session and what learningpossibilities that are enabled by these different types of discussions. We observed twelve students during six separate andsimulated peer instruction sessions and the students were interviewedindividually after the sessions.An analysis of the datarevealed that the students engaged in three qualitatively different types of discussions:affirmativediscussions,motivatingdiscussions, andargumentativediscussions. We characterize these different types of discussions in terms of the number ofalternative answers the students discuss, the extent to which they draw on prior knowledge and experiences, as well as thefundamental difference between an explanation and an argument. A good opportunity for learning is opened up whenstudents are aspiring to find the truth, not simply being satisfied with what they believe to be true. We conclude thatstudents do not always engage in discussions that support their learning in the best way, and we discuss implications forusing peer instruction as a teaching method.