Reflection and Dissection in Engineering Education : Exploring Critical Elements of Active Learning and their Roles in Course Structures

Graduation date: 2016This thesis focuses on active learning through four different studies that include metacognitive and cognitive aspects of learning designs to support active learning and a contextual analysis of the implementation of teaching tools used in active learning. The first three investigate important elements of active learning whereas the fourth study explores how those elements fit together. The first two studies evaluate how student responses vary based on different reflection prompts. The third study examines student thinking processes as they work through interactive simulations. Through a comparative case study, the fourth study analyzes how two different instructors implement similar active teaching tools into their respective courses