From rote learning to deep learning: Filling the gap by enhancing engineering students' reasoning skills through explanatory learning activities

Abstract

Rote learning refers to the superficial learning of concepts and procedures, typically by brute memorization and with little integration into existing cognitive schemas, resulting in poor knowledge retention and inability to apply the knowledge in new and evolving contexts. With rote learning, students usually learn declarative and procedural knowledge but usually do not pay attention to conditional knowledge (when to use what knowledge). As a result, they usually can replicate the problem-solving process in a familiar context but are unable to transfer the knowledge and use the concept for a new application. This paper explores the use of explanatory learning activities to promote students' deep learning. Cognitive psychology literature shows that students do not necessarily learn concepts deeply by solving problems, unless they monitor their thinking and decision-making process before and during problem solving, and reflect on the process after will help to conditionalize their knowledge, i.e., when to use what knowledge to solve the problem. In this paper, we present a study on a multidimensional approach to enhancing students' reasoning skills by integrating a variety of explanatory learning activities, namely oral exams, written guidance prompts for homework which asks students to justify their problem-solving process, and video assignment in which students perform group-explanation on homework assignments. Oral exams, due to their adaptive diagnostic nature, provide an opportunity to probe students' thought process behind their decision-making. In contrast, written exams are limited in this capacity: when students write down an equation, it is difficult to tell whether they understand the concept well or if they are trying to recall similar procedures from class examples and homework assignments. Oral exams also allow students to receive feedback from a content expert who can clear up misconceptions. Group explanation activities offer the benefits of feedback exchange and social learning among students. The paper will present the details of these learning activities as well as the outcomes. Mixed research methods were used to study the impact of verbal explanations of learning activities. Students' learning outcomes are mainly measured by exam performance. Students' perceptions were studied through both quantitative Likert-scale questions and free-response to open-ended questions.