Active Learning , Performance and

Motivation Of Students

ZIN EDDINE DADACHChemical Engineering Department

Higher Colleges of TechnologyUNITED ARAB EMIRATES

CONTENT

I Effective LearningII Motivation (Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic) III. Active LearningIV. Teaching strategies V. Measuring Performance VI. Expectancy theory of motivation VII. First quantitative method for motivation VIII. Comparing results to student’s survey IX. Conclusion

I. EFFECTIVE LEARNING

Literature has shown that effective teachers succeed in making students feel good about school and learning (LEARNING IS FUN), thus increasing student achievement.

According to Michel et al., students in an actively taught class learn (memorize) the material to which they are exposed better than those taught passively.

Olson also stated: ‘Motivation is probably the most important factor that educators can target in order to improve learning.

TEACHING PRINCIPLES THAT PROMOTE EFFECTIVE LEARNING

Space learning over time. Shorter study sessions, interspersed with other activities (Active Learning).

Alternate between solved examples and problem sets. Teachers can provide students with step-by-step solutions to sample problems, but they should also have the opportunity to solve similar problems by themselves.

Combine words and graphics. Anything you can do to make study material richer will also make it more memorable. Pictures really are worth a thousand words.

Integrate the concrete with the abstract. Illustrate abstract concepts with many and varied concrete examples. Use of analogies could help.

Testing promotes learning. Not just midterms and finals, but also quizzes.

Help students allocate their time effectively. A structured course, with deadlines and focused activities, will help a lot.

Ask deep explanatory questions. Teachers should ask deep questions, encourage students to "think aloud" about the answers, and - -again -- provide feedback.

II. MOTIVATION

Definition: Motivation is the force that drives one to act. It involves biological, cognitive, emotional, and/or social factors within a human being or animal that arouse and direct goal-oriented behavior.

INTRINSIC VS. EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION

INTRINSIC MOTIVATION Love of Learning Assumes the learning

activity itself is satisfying Primarily process-

focused Implies that the

learning/task itself has value and meaning

Long-term benefits Information stored in

Long term memory : Information becomes knowledge

EXTRINSIC MOTIVATION Desire for Reward (Grade) Assumes that an extrinsic

motivator is necessary Primarily product-focused Implies the learning/task is

a means to an end (the reward)

Short term benefit Information stored in Short

term memory: Information lost after exams.

WAYS TO IMPROVE INTRINSIC MOTIVATION

Students must have access, ability, and interest, and must value education.

Teachers must be well-trained, must focus and monitor the educational process, be dedicated and responsive to their students, and be inspirational.

Content must be accurate, timely, stimulating, and pertinent to the students’ current and future needs.

Method must be inventive, encouraging, interesting, and beneficial, and provide tools that can be applied to the student’s real life.

Environment needs to be accessible, safe, positive, personalized as much as possible, and empowering.

III. ACTIVE LEARNING?

Learning is a relatively permanent change in knowledge that occurs as a result of

experience.Active learning is described as a process in

which students engage in doing things (involvements) and thinking about what

they are doing in the classroom.

WHY ACTIVE LEARNING? Engineering students work with real

process applications, charts, diagrams, hands-on practices, and demonstrations.

They need to have critical and creative thinking to solve technical problems or design new processes.

Teaching thinking skills is therefore more important than giving information.

LEARNING AND MEMORY Psychologists distinguish among a number of different kinds of memory, including "short term" or "working" memory and "long-term" memory.

When we talk about student learning, we're mostly talking about "long-term" memory -- though “working memory” is not by any means irrelevant.

Distractions, like music or checking your cell phone for texts, can consume some of the capacity of “working memory.”

DALE’S CONE : LEARNING AND MEMORY

OBJECTIVE AND BENEFITS OF ACTIVE LEARNING

Change the type of motivation of students :

Extrinsic (Grades) → Intrinsic (Curiosity and hunger to learn)

Most students tend to prefer activities that allow active participation or response. Activities that allow students to interact with you or one another, or allow them to manipulate materials are usually more intrinsically motivating to students.

Students are more involved than in passive listening;

Students may engage in higher order thinking, such as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation;

IV. TEACHING STRATEGIES USED IN THE PROCESS CONTROL COURSE

Cooperative LearningClass activities were based on Pair Problem Solving (PPS).

Inductive Learning Six lab experiments (two to demonstrate and four to conduct experimental investigation in groups of three students)

Problem-based learning (PBL)Project: The objective of the project was to encourage curiosity and hunger for exploration in students

Interactive Classroom1) Discussion using open-ended questions2) Questions used : “Why?” and “What happens if” 3) Videos and Analogies for visualization of process control

COOPERATIVE LEARNING

Class activities of two hours were usually organized after three or four lectures. Class activities were based on Pair Problem Solving (PPS). Three or four students had opportunities to explore and solve together problem situations.

LEARNING BY TEACHING

Every student has a chance to teach his friends and explain the solutions during class activities.

INDUCTIVE LEARNING

Lab experiments help students to work in teams and teach them how to carry out experiments in a safe manner, collect data, using an investigative strategy, analyze experimental values and compare them with theory, present results in a professional manner

PROBLEM BASED LEARNING

The objective of the project was to encourage curiosity and hunger for exploration in students by using all the library resources to search for the latest technologies and applications of process control for a specific application.

ASSESSMENT STRATEGY OF THE COURSE

Activities Mark of each activity

Labs: 3&4 (Inductive Learning) 10

Case studies (Pair Problem Solving) 5

Exam 1 30

Labs: 5&6 (Inductive Learning) 10

Case studies (Pair Problem Solving) 5

Project (Problem Based Learning) 10

Final exam 30

INTERACTIVE CLASSROOM

DISCUSSION: During the first half hour of the first class of each week, students were asked to answer questions related to the previous lecture. A discussion between the students was encouraged.

VIDEOS: To grasp the concepts better, five videos (20 minutes each) were used whenever students lost some focus and it was needed to recreate images in their mind that could help them follow the difficult theory of process control.

OPEN ENDED QUESTIONS : In order to encourage curiosity to discover the unknown, all the questions about the new lectures were open-ended questions. I this perspective, the question ‘Why?’ was very often used. What happens if. . .?’ was used instead of the question ‘Do you have any questions?’.

ANALOGY USED : BRAIN-BODY INTERACTIONS

Brain-Body Interactions

Controller-Plant interactions

V. MEASURING PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS

There are many ways to collect evidence of student learning outcomes.

To simplify the options,

assessment efforts are categorized as direct and indirect measures.

DIRECT METHOD: GRADES

INDIRECT METHOD: STUDENTS’ SURVEY

DIRECT METHOD USED

Relative Performance (RP) of students was used as a tool to gauge the effects of the active learning strategy on the performance of students.

RELATIVE PERFORMANCE OF EACH STUDENT

FGP: Final Grade Point as the

performance of each student in the course

CGPA: Performance of each student in the department

GRADING SYSTEM OF THE COLLEGE

Grading System of the College

Grade Range Grade Point (GP)

A 90-100 4

A- 85-89 3.7

B+ 80-84 3.3

B 75-79 3

C+ 70-74 2.3

C 65-69 2

D 60-64 1

F 0-59 0

ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGY ENHANCED THE PERFORMANCE OF 38 (69%) STUDENTS.

1.72

1.88 1.9 2.0

52.05

2.26

2.38

2.48

2.53

2.66

2.77 2.8 2.8

82.88

3.03 3.1 3.1 3.2

73.33

3.35 3.4 3.5 3.5

53.72

3.78

3.85

3.95

3.95

-60

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

80Distribution of the Students' Relative Per-

formance

Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA)

Perfor

mance

(%)

VI. EXPECTANCY THEORY OF MOTIVATION

METHODS FOR MEASURING MOTIVATION OF STUDENTS

Theorists have developed several approaches to motivation which fall in four broad categories:

Behavioral view: (based on reward) Humanistic view: (Basic Human needs) Achievement motivation theory: (Need for

achievement is increased when students experience success)

Cognitive view:(based on intrinsic motivation)

BASIC HUMAN NEEDS

Students need to feel that they are loved and they want to be part of a group.

Students need to feel that they have some control over their learning.

Students need to feel that they are capable and have something valuable to contribute.

Students need to feel that they are autonomous and have freedom of choice.

Students need to have fun and experience wonder and joy.

THE EXPENTANCY THEORY OF MOTIVATION

MOTIVATIONAL FORCE= E.I.V

SCALES BASED ON SURVEYS

Component

Scale Range Definition

Expectancy 0 to 1 0 = Belief she/he could not perform successfully1 = Firm belief she/he could perform successfully

Instrumentality

0 to 1 0 = no relationship between performance and outcome 1 = outcome dependent on performance

Valence -1 to +1 - = avoidance of outcome 0 = indifference+ = expected outcome would be satisfactory

VII. FIRST QUANTITATIVE METHOD TO MEASURE THE EFFECTS OF

MOTIVATION

USING THE PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS TO QUANTIFY THE EFFECTS OF AN ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGY

ON THEIR MOTIVATION

LIMITATION OF THE PREVIOUS METHODS

All previous methods are based on surveys and feelings of students : “Qualitative”.

This new method is based on performance of students.

This new method is an attempt to answer the following question:

What is the impact of motivation of students on their performance ?

OHM’S LAW

In an electrical circuit, the current I (flow of electrons) is enhanced by a voltage V and hindered by the electrical resistance R, of the circuit.

ANALOGY USED

Resistances in parallel Students in classroom

FUNNY OHM’S LAW

SIMILARITIES

RESISTANCES

Amp = Flow of electrons

Ohm= Electrical resistance

Volt= Driving force= Voltage

STUDENTS

Amp= Flow of information

Ohm= Resistance to receive information (diameter= CGPA)

Volt= Driving force= Active learning strategy

IN CLASSROOM Current I (flow of electrons) “Flow” of information from the teacher (the source of knowledge).

Electrical resistance, R, of the circuitA student having a low CGPA could present a higher “Resistance” to receive the information

Voltage V Since nothing can be done about the student’s background (CGPA), the active learning strategy was used as the driving force “V” in order to increase the “Flow” of information.

ASUMPTIONS

FINAL GRADE could be used as an indication to measure the “Flow” of information.

CGPA is the conductance or the inverse of resistance : students with lower CGPA will represent higher resistance to learn

ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGY was used as the driving force V in order to increase the “Flow” of information.

DIFFERENCES

Unlike electrical resistances in parallel receiving the same V, students in the same classroom learn differently and, by consequence, are differently motivated by the same teaching strategy.

Based on this assumption, this paper introduces the Motivation Factor (MF) of a student as his specific “V” related to the effects of the active learning strategy on his motivation to increase the “Flow” of information.

THE MOTIVATION FACTOR BASED ON OHM’S LAW

LIMITATION OF THE MOTIVATION FACTOR

From the above equation: When CGPA increases ► Motivation factor decreases

MF is rectified in order to obtain a common scale for the motivation factor (MF) for all CGPA by adjusting its values according to the different values of α. Correction

Factor α is introduced:

GRADING SYSTEM OF THE COLLEGE

Grading System of the College

Grade Range Grade Point (GP)

A 90-100 4

A- 85-89 3.7

B+ 80-84 3.3

B 75-79 3

C+ 70-74 2.3

C 65-69 2

D 60-64 1

F 0-59 0

Values of the Correction Factor α

Grade Point (GP) LM (Lowest mark) α

4 90 0.9

3.7 85 0.92

3.3 80 0.97

3 75 1

2.3 70 1.22

2 65 1.3

1 60 2.4

0 0 ∞

DADACH MOTIVATION FACTOR (DMF)

Assumption: It is assumed that for values of the DMF higher than unity mean that the effects of motivation of each student on his performance in the course were significant.

Examples: CGPA = 4, student having a FGP = 0.9 X CGPA has a DMF =1. CGPA = 1, a student need to have FGP= 2.4 X CGPA to have a DMF=1

THE ACTIVE LEARNING STRATEGY ENHANCED THE PERFORMANCE OF 38 (69%) STUDENTS.

1.72

1.88 1.9 2.0

52.05

2.26

2.38

2.48

2.53

2.66

2.77 2.8 2.8

82.88

3.03 3.1 3.1 3.2

73.33

3.35 3.4 3.5 3.5

53.72

3.78

3.85

3.95

3.95

-60

-40

-20

0

20

40

60

80Distribution of the Students' Relative Per-

formance

Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA)

Perfor

mance

(%)

TWENTY TWO STUDENTS (40%) HAD A DADACH MOTIVATION FACTOR HIGHER THAN UNITY.

. 1.72 2.26 2.77 3.1 3.4 3.85

Motivati0n

Factor

CumulativeGrade Point Average (CGPA)

Dadach Motivation Factor 1.2

1.0 

0.8 

0.6

ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS

The active learning strategy enhanced the performance of 38 (69%) students but only twenty two students (40%) had a motivation factor higher than unity. It could be assumed that the performance of 16 students (29%) was within the limits of their capacity to perform. Consequently, motivation did not have a significant role in obtaining their grade.

Students having a CGPA lower than 1.9 had the lowest values of the Dadach Motivation Factor. This result could be related to the fact that it was difficult to motivate this category of students.

Students having a CGPA of letter grade C (2<CGPA<2.3) had the highest values of the Dadach Motivation Factor. As a consequence, motivation played an important role in the positive performance of these students.

VIII. INDIRECT METHOD : STUDENTS SURVEY

Success of the active learning strategy:

Question# 9: Uses a variety of resources to help me learn ( 93% Strongly agree)

Question #10: Gives me activities where sometimes I work in groups and sometimes by myself

( 86% Strongly agree) Question #6: Helps me take responsibility for my own learning ( 79% Strongly agree)

LOWEST PERCENTAGE IN THE STUDENTS SURVEY

Question# 1: (The teacher) Gives me activities that suit the way I like to learn ( 50% Strongly agree)

Shows that the learning strategy did not fit the way some students wanted to learn.

MOTIVATION IN THE STUDENTS SURVEY

Qualitative method to measure motivation: Student Survey Question# 4 : Motivates me to learn : ( 79%

Strongly agree)

Quantitative method to measure Motivation: DMF : Only 40% of students had a Dadach Motivation

Factor higher than unity.

Therefore, the feedback of 21 students (39%) does not fit the requirement of the quantitative method.

IX. CONCLUSION OF THE QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS

This is the first quantitative method. Unlike the motivational force (E.I.V), the Dadach motivation

factor is based on performance of students (Grades, CGPA).

This new method provided useful results regarding the impact of an active learning strategy on the motivation and performance of students.

These preliminary findings encourage the exploration of broader

scale in a future investigation where this methodology will be further studied by comparing the results of the quantitative analysis to student surveys ( Motivational Force) on the level of motivation of students.

THANK YOU Quantifying the Effects of an Active Learning

Strategy on the Motivation of StudentsInternational Journal of Engineering

Education Vol. 29, No. 4, pp. 904–913, 2013