Instructional Assistant Professor Texas A&M University Department of Biomedical Engineering, United States
Introduction: Effectively conveying complex theoretical concepts to students remains a challenge in engineering education. This was the case for our department’s undergraduate biomedical engineering (BME) mechanics course. To address this issue, we introduced a series of interactive, hands-on demonstrations into the class to provide a more tangible connection to the course material, resulting in increased student engagement and comprehension.
Materials and
Methods: Six hands-on demonstrations were developed for this course; each activity was chosen to cover a major topic in our BME mechanics class. Various manipulatives such as marshmallow trusses, balancing center-of-mass birds, and beam bending erasers were used to reinforce lecture concepts (Figure1). Demonstrations were performed at the beginning of lecture to capture student attention and introduce new content. Students were then administered an anonymous survey, asked to answer conceptual questions about each activity, and provide constructive feedback about the instructional practice.
Results, Conclusions, and Discussions: Overall, the in-class activities had a positive effect on student learning. Approximately 88% of survey participants (n=33) agreed that they gained an “intuitive understanding” of BME mechanics from the demonstrations; this was reflected in the high scores observed on the concept question portion of the research survey. In the written feedback, students noted that the activities complemented their “tactile and visual” learning styles making content “easier to recall.” Furthermore, students found the interactive demonstrations “motivating and engaging” - especially compared to “listening to a lecture [or] reading off a slide.” Accordingly, this research shows that interactive, in-class activities can simplify complex concepts, making learning more enjoyable and accessible to students. However, additional investigation is needed to understand the long-term impact of this instructional practice on student learning over time.
Acknowledgements (Optional): In-class demonstrations were developed in collaboration through brainstorming sessions with Dr. Erika Weber and Dr. Kevin Heath through the following study: Contextualized Scaffolding for Engineering Faculty to Facilitate the Adoption of EBIPs, funded by the National Science Foundation, grant number 2111087
