Lessons learned implementing and optimizing Guided Discovery modules

Abstract

Students notoriously struggle with common misconceptions in Engineering Mechanics curriculum that negatively impact later courses in Mechanical Engineering and related disciplines. Moreover, traditional, lecture-based curriculum for Statics and Dynamics does not promote sustained student engagement. This paper presents a series of Guided Discovery modules that target key concepts. Guided Discovery is a methodology that borrows aspects of challenge-based instruction and discovery learning. The method is designed to facilitate students paths to discovery of key concepts that are often misinterpreted or not readily mastered. This is accomplished by facilitating students timely discovery of the underlying fundamentals through physical or virtual interaction with Statics and Dynamics challenges. The key difficulty to insuring positive impact on concept mastery is sustaining student engagement throughout the process. When students actively participate in every step, there is a significant improvement on comprehension and retention of commonly misinterpreted concepts. In this paper the authors summarize existing modules and present some of the results. Additionally, the authors detail typical shortcomings that resulted in early implementations of the modules and strategies for overcoming those shortcomings.