Collaborative Learning in Problem-Solving Tutorials
Professor Dong-ke Zhang and Dr Ray Peterson
School of Chemical Engineering, Curtin University of Technology
& The Faculty of Medicine, The University of Adelaide
"Previously some of the students didn't think enough about the problems at all. The solutions were often just handed out, and the students were not getting what they needed for learning…With this new approach the students got into the spirit of the whole thing as well…it created a really good learning environment"
Background | Aims | Forming Groups | Process | Evaluation | Sources | Contact
Background
Undergraduate engineering students are often required to provide specific answers to a set of problems as part of a tutorial. Students in these situations are often dependent on the tutor when they are unable to solve a problem, and the weaker students rely on the tutorial solution as their main resource for understanding the solution to the problem.
An important educational objective in engineering is to develop students with keen problem-solving abilities. This can be difficult to achieve in the traditional tutorial format where complex problems require a more open ended problem-solving approach, and where the integration of knowledge from different subjects may also be required.
One method which appears to have assisted students to improve their understanding when solving problems in tutorials is collaborative learning, and this approach was used by Fraser [1] to improve student learning in engineering.
Aims
- to develop a collaborative learning approach for problem-solving tutorials
- to encourage students to become more self-ulected in their learning
- to enable students to develop their problem-solving ability
Forming Groups
The class group comprised 38 second-year students enrolled in the Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical Engineering). The subject, Process Heat Transfer consisted of two lectures and a two hour tutorial per week.
Students were allocated by the teaching staff to 8 groups comprising either 4 or 5 members on the basis of their grade performance in previous subjects and gender. In terms of grade performance, each group had a mix of high, average and low achieving students. The groups were not given any formal instruction on collaborative learning, or on group dynamics as part of this subject.
Process
Each week, students were given a tutorial paper divided into two parts. The first part consisted of questions and exercises which covered basic concepts reviewed as part of the subject. Typical questions in this section were: "What is thermal conductivity?", "Discuss the mechanism of radiation heat transfer." Students were encouraged to complete these in individual study time as part of their review of the lecture program, after the problem-solving tutorial. The second part of the tutorial consisted of 2 - 5 problem solving questions which were of varying degrees of difficulty. Some questions were extremely challenging and required that students tackle them from various points of view in considering possible solutions. It was these problem-solving questions which were the focus for the tutorial session. Previously the subject was comprised of two hours of lectures and a one hour tutorial. In this trial we expanded the tutorial to two hours so that students had time to work on the open-ended problem-solving questions.
Each group submitted the group's solution to the problem(s) for that week, and these solutions were then marked by their peers during the tutorial session. It was anticipated that by having a group solution to a problem, this would encourage a more collaborative approach in both discussing and resolving issues when reaching a possible solution. Each group member was expected to contribute to the development of the group's solution to problems as part of the group process.
In the peer assessment process, each group's solution was assessed by another group at the tutorial. This process took place in the tutorial and enabled groups to obtain instant feedback on their work. Students when assessing work were provided with guidelines on the grading categories and what was required for a solution to be awarded a particular grade. The main purpose of the peer assessment was to provide further opportunities for discussion between the assessing and assessed groups on the different methods used when solving problems, and to provide another mechanism to enhance student learning of problem-solving approaches. The lecturer also reviewed the assessed solutions to ensure the process was completed as objectively as possible.
Two questionnaires were administered to the class group during the semester, and a semi-structured interview was conducted with one member from each group in the second to last week of the semester. The vast majority of students believed that they had learnt a great deal from working with their fellow students and that the value of the approach was in observing the different methods and processes used by individual students when attempting to solve problems: "this [tutorial method] enables me to see how others get their ideas and how they rationalise to solve problems presented". The students also responded favourably to the formation of groups based on mixed ability and thought that it worked well. Although successful in some respects, the marking of group solutions was undertaken solely by the lecturer in the second half of the semester due to student concerns regarding their ability to mark objectively.
The benefit of the technique extended beyond improved student learning. Equally important was the reduced demand on teaching resources. We didn't need to use any part-time tutors and so there was a cost saving component. There was also a reduction in the number of students needing to see the lecturer (Dr Zhang) outside the tutorials with problems relating to their learning. It appeared that the students were able to gain sufficient support from the group to resolve their problems. This was considerably different to previous years conducted with the traditional tutorial format, where a large number of students would frequently seek support, advice or clarification of problems from the lecturer. This success is still ongoing, after several years of implementation. The general approach has also been an inspiration in supervising postgraduate groups.
Sources
This paper is based in large part on the more detailed;
Zhang, D.K. and Peterson, R.F., Collaborative Learning Groups for Problem-Solving Tutorials. Australasian Journal of Engineering Education, 7(2),165-170.
Reference
[1] Fraser, D.M., Collaborative Study Groups - A Learning Aid in Chemical Engineering. Chemical Engineering Education, 27, 1, 38-41 (1993).
Contact
Dong-ke Zhang
Professor of Chemical Engineering
Head
School of Chemical Engineering
Curtin University of Technology
GPO Box U1987
Perth, Western Australia 6845
Australia
Phone: 61 8 9266 7581
Fax: 61 8 9266 3554
Email: dkzhang@che.curtin.edu.au
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