Active learning and action research - Basic attributes of a support course for first year engineering students

Abstract

This paper reports on active learning and action research during 2000-2001, involving first-year engineering students on a support course in the School of Engineering at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. Students on the support course have passed the university's admission tests assessing their ability to succeed at engineering studies. However, they are academically still at risk because of deficiencies in their educational background. The support course is designed to redress and enhance students' concept of the fundamentals underpinning a study in calculus, to aid the development of personal, academic and communication skills and to give the students basic skills in information technology. The main pedagogical approach is aimed at developing the full academic potential of the students. The study focused on determining students' learning preferences, their study orientation in mathematics and the development of writing skills relevant for engineering. The Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument was used to determine the students' thinking style preferences. This information was used to foster an awareness of the existence of diversity in thinking and learning preferences as well as the need to develop an ability to access less preferred modes of thinking and learning. Analysis of data obtained from the Study Orientation Questionnaire in Mathematics shows that these students enter tertiary education with a high level of mathematics anxiety and a lack of skills that contribute to understanding mathematics. They are therefore provided with additional support in mathematics concepts using computer graphing technology to visualise and explore the graphs of two-dimensional functions in an active learning environment. The principal pedagogy regarding the development of the students' writing skills for engineering include active "learning by doing" and co-operative learning in a "buddy assessment" system. Initial indications are that active learning and action research are complementary and beneficial to both students and faculty and can contribute to continual improvement of practice.