Student Engagement
Student involvement in the learning process is vital to higher achievements. Many professors fall into the trap of teaching for a singular, ideal student and are not prepared for unpredictable outliers. A traditional lecture setting does not allow students to get any needed clarification, but a refurbished approach can. As Andrews, from Department of Ecology at Montana State University, et al. found, “addressing common student misconceptions may lead to higher learning gains” (400). They took note that many students in one class may carry the same confusion and, therefore, professors must address as many as possible to ensure a greater success because all students may benefit from further clarification. By allowing for more student involvement, professors can have a higher confidence rate of answering questions that more than one student may have. Andrews et al. observe that, “much of the difficulty students have learning science can be attributed to the passive role students play during traditional lectures” (394). Though this particular study speaks to educational sciences, it is applicable to the spectrum of academic courses. It is generally easy for students to get distracted in class because there is no immediate way to tend a students knowledge. By involving students during lecture there is a lesser chance of distraction which slowly diminishes the passive role currently played and supports a higher achievement (747). Passive roles taken on by students in universities occur simply because of the traditional class design. Olson, Cooper, and Lougheed, from Washington State University, report, “in a 5-year study of student engagement in 548 community colleges, Kuh reported that student engagement was enhanced when instructors created active and collaborative learning environments” (747). This research suggests that engagement must be a critical component of the foundation of the new lecture format. Not only do grades prove the betterment of instruction through engagement but “interactive activities received positive student feedback” (Hency and Tormey 310). Students enjoy being actively involved in lecture, which prompts them to have a greater personal desire to succeed. Problem-based learning is the solution to inadequate lecture halls within colleges and universities. The problem-based teaching method keeps the useful lecture setting while engaging students with course material.
Cooper, Olson, and Lougheed describe problem-based learning as “a learning environment where problems drive the learning” (734). Teachers can allow for students to be engaged with the material and work either individually or with peers closest to them in order to solve problems. It is important for students to learn through reasoning and be able to apply any new concept in different scenarios because ideas build on each other. Olson, Cooper, and Lougheed’s study showed that “the students in the [problem based learning] section did significantly better on the exams than those in the other three [SGC, small class, control] treatments sections” (741). Problem-based learning students did better on exams because they had a deeper understanding of the concept, and therefore were able to solve trick questions as opposed to the students who only memorized simple facts. The distinction in problem based learning is that students are now taking part of the educational discourse in order to store and connect concepts; students no longer obligated to take on a passive role in lectures.