Impact Assessment of “Smart Materials” CRCD Curriculum on Student Perceptions Sophomore Materials Course, Spring 2002 Courtney Svec & Rita Caso

Impact of “Smart Materials” CRCD Curriculum on Student Perceptions Sophomore Materials Course, Spring 2002 CRCD Smart Materials curriculum was introduced and reinforced in 1 of 4 Sophomore Materials Course classes, in the form of: –Classroom Demonstration of Smart Material –Laboratory Demonstration of materials –Class projects –Visitor Lectures

Impact of “Smart Materials” CRCD Curriculum on Student Perceptions The CRCD and Non-CRCD classes took a pre-test and a post-test of the Sophomore Engineering Perception Test (SEPT), to measure change in perceptions of knowledge & learning in three areas (3 subscales) : Material Use & Selection Teaming Application of Theory Near end of course, the CRCD class students’ perceptions of their knowledge and learning were more positive than the Non-CRCD classes The CRCD class’ course grades were slightly higher

Impact of “Smart Materials” CRCD Curriculum on Student Perceptions of Knowledge & Learning, Discussion of Results : Materials Course, Sp ’02 At pre-testing, the CRCD class students were comparable to Non-CRCD students on SEPT Subscales –(MANOVA results: Negligible variance in pre-test SEPT scores was accounted for by CRCD vs. non-CRCD membership)

Impact of “Smart Materials” CRCD Curriculum on Student Perceptions of their Knowledge & Learning

Impact of “Smart Materials” CRCD Curriculum on Student Comments about Mastery & Presentation of Materials Course Concepts The post-test of the Sophomore Engineering Perception Test (SEPT) also included Open-ended questions about Mastery and Presentation of : Crystal structures Polymers Material selection issues Atomic bonding in solid materials CRCD class students responded with more positive comments than the Non-CRCD classes

Impact of “Smart Materials” CRCD Curriculum on Student Comments about Mastery & Presentation of Materials Course Concepts

Impact of “Smart Materials” CRCD Curriculum on Student Perceptions of Knowledge & Learning, Discussion of Results : Materials Course, Sp ’02 At post-testing, the CRCD class students’ perceptions of their knowledge & learning was more positive than that of the Non-CRCD students –( MANOVA results: Variance in post-test SEPT scores accounted for by CRCD vs. non-CRCD membership was 7.9% -- a medium effect size. Professor effects are believed to have contributed) Students in the CRCD Materials class received higher grades than those in Non-CRCD classes. –(ANOVA results: Signif. at p.002, but variance in grades accounted for by CRCD vs. non-CRCD membership was only 2.7% -- a small effect size.) CRCD class students made more positive comments than Non-CRCD students about their mastery and the presentation of Materials Course concepts