Toward improving the academic performance in National Diploma Mechanical Engineering Thermodynamics 2 students Louw, C Mammen, K.J.

INTRODUCTION International problem. SA. BACKGROUND Industry. Possible cause of the situation. International research.

PROBLEM STATEMENT Alternative teaching and learning methods to improve students performance. RESEARCH PROBLEMS Course outcomes. Current teaching practices. RATIONALE Alternative innovations. SIGNIFICANCE Students. More competitive graduates. Staff can be developed.

RESEARCH QUESTION Can Guided Inquiry Based Learning (GIBL) assist the National Diploma Mechanical Engineering (NDME) improvement of academic performance and achievement of course outcomes of Thermodynamics 2 (MTHE 2) students? SUB-QUESTIONS Did a GIBL program contribute to the improvement of academic performance of selected MTHE 2 students? How is this performance related to the Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) developed for this course?

OBJECTIVES Identify alternative teaching and learning methods. Implement GIBL as an alternative method. Develop KPI’s. KPI measurement.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Social constructivism – (Vygotsky). Mismatch between teaching and learning – (Kapadia, 2008). Active learning improve knowledge retention – (Prince, 2004). Active learning develops higher order thinking skills – (Ada, 2009). Critical instructional objectives for 21st century – (Huet et al., 2007). IBL promotes important engineering skills – (Lee, 2004). IBL benefits disadvantaged students – (Hmelo-Silver, 2007).

Bloom ’ s Taxonomy Knowledge (Remember) [list, memorize, remember, name] Lower order thinking skills Comprehension (Understand) [comprehend, estimate, explain] Application (Apply) [apply, compute, manipulate, solve] Analysis (Analyze) [investigate, classify, analyze] Higher order thinking skills Evaluation (Evaluate) [judge, evaluate, assess, interpret] Synthesis (Create) [design, create, develop, modify]

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY Population: NDME MTHE 2 students WSU. Sample selection: Twenty NMDE MTHE 2 students WSU.

Instruments: Formative assessments – 3 written tests. Formative assessment – 1 oral test. Summative assessment - final examination. KPI’s. Structured Questionnaire. Interviews. Pilot study and lessons learned: Positive results. Need indicated from students.

Data collection: Action research. GIBL. Assessments: tests, oral test and examination scores. KPI’s. Structured Questionnaire. Interviews.

GIBL ProcessPARTICIPATION Explanation of theory, concepts, processes etc. Lecturer – active Students – passive Do an example following the Q and A approach in the guide. Lecturer – active Students – active Students split up into groups and are presented with new problems to solve following the Q and A approach in the guide. Students – active Lecturer - facilitates

Limitations/Delimitations: Student social economic background. Secondary schools attended. Student commitment. Student attitudes. Gender and ethnicity. Teaching and learning environment.

CHALLENGES FACED AND STRATEGIES TO SOLVE THEM New methods of teaching and learning to students. Resistance from students to accept new approach. Oral assessment is time consuming. Projects take up time to visit companies. IBL requires extra time.

DATA ANALYSIS PASW for data from tests, exam, questionnaire and KPI’s. N-Vivo for qualitative data from interviews. Statistician.

DISCUSSION Active teaching and learning improves student learning. Learning pyramid – more activity results in improved knowledge retention. International universities are introducing active learning.

CONCLUSIONS Definite need for this investigation. Innovations enhanced student learning. Innovations assisted in achieving outcomes measured by KPI’s. Lecturers can benefit from this. Engineers are problem solvers. Questionnaire gave positive feedback. Interviews emphasized students enjoyment and need for change.

QuestionsStrongly agree AgreeNeutralDisagreeStrongly disagree 1. I enjoyed the group sessions The inquiry based sessions helped me to analyse problems effectively When working alone the inquiry based approach helped me to analyse problems effectively This method helped me to understand the work and not to just memorise it This method helped me develop the ability to solve problems on my own The Thermodynamics guide with questions and answers helped me to understand the work better The Thermodynamics guide’s additional questions and answers helped me to understand and analyse new problems better This method can help me to understand other courses better This method should also be introduced in other courses

STUDENT PERFORMANCE 75% of enrolled students obtained examination entry. 80% of students passed the course. 60% of enrolled students passed the course. (26% traditional) 55% achievement of outcomes.

SEM YEAR NO. OF STUDENTS NO. OF ST. OBTAIN COURSE MARK NO. OF ST. PASSED% PASSED COURSE % OF ENROLLED PASSED

QUESTIONS?