The Problem How to induce student appreciation of intellectual growth and ethical development in courses that are technical in nature? Teaching Situation: In technical and engineering type courses it is a constant danger that the course turns into a series of "information download" sessions of technical content. Such a situation does not leave room and time for the instructor to influence student attitudes to the real values of liberal higher education. Ongoing

Methodologies & Types of Evidence of Student Learning Gathered Initially two survey tools are administered. The first survey, titled "Learning Self-Reflection Questionnaire", consists of 34 statements, grouped as 17 pairs. Each pair usually represents alternative objectives or perceptions of the learning process. Every statement scopes agreements or disagreement on a five point scale. The second instrument "Ranking Learning Objectives" is an order ranking tool to assess relevance of twelve leaning goals. The tools are administered in a number of classes, including introductory and upper division computer science classes and a General Education course studying the societal impacts of computing. Mean, median, mode and standard deviation are calculated for the collected data in order to determine the most prevailing positive and negative attitudes of the studied student population. Following basic statistics, each subject's data is converted into a score indicating preferences along the studied 3 "tension axes" a scatter plot is generated. Correlations of preference scores with type of course, field of study, study year, gender and other group characteristics are computed and statistical significance of mean differences among groups are determined. Pedagogy Experimentation: To address the teaching challenges outlined in the problem description and the Preliminary Results and Discussion section, three pedagogical approaches are being carried out. 1. Focusing on the application of the "Seven Principles of Good Practice" in undergraduate education. 2. Measuring stages of reflective and critical thinking on the part of my students and guiding them towards reflective levels of thinking from pre-reflective and quasi-reflective levels. The guidance process is facilitated by group discussions, self-reflection essays, minute papers and complex group projects. 3. Helping students to build intellectual self-confidence and to reduce anxieties and fear of science, math and technology content. This is attempted by the use of fun puzzles to stimulate interest and enjoyment of problem solving, frequent presentation of the latest and most intriguing discoveries in the physical, biological and earth sciences and by intense application of scientific visualization and interactive mathematics and simulation technology, such as digital and virtual white boards, classroom collaborative tools (Classroom Presenter), tablet PCs and interactive mathematics, graphing and simulation software. Fall 2007

Annotated List of Helpful Resources & References King, P.M., & Kitchener, K. S. (1994). Developing reflective judgment: Understanding and promoting intellectual growth and critical thinking in adolescents and adults. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Hensley, R. B. (2003). Technology as environment: From collections to connections. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 94,23-30. Misangyi Watts, M. (2003). Introduction: Technology as catalyst. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 94,3-12. Leamnson, R.N. (2001). Does technology present a new way of learning?. Educational Technology and Society, 4(1),. Jenkins, A. (1996). Discipline-based educational development. The International Journal for Academic Development, 1(1),50-62. Millis, B.J. (2006). Helping Faculty Learn to Teach Better and "Smarter" Through Sequenced Activities. To Improve The Academy, 24,216-230. Chickering, A.W., & Gamson, Z. (1999). Development and adaptations of the seven principles for good practice in undergraduate education. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 80,75-81. William G. Perry, Jr., Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years: A Scheme (New York Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1968) Ongoing

Project Summary The purpose of this project is to find ways to influence student perceptions and attitudes to the values of liberal higher education in a courses where the classroom situation is often dominated by a technical content driven "information download" type of teaching. First a "what is" question is handled: what are, in reality, students' attitudes toward liberal education in general, and mental development, intellectual growth and professional and civic responsibility in particular? This question is investigated using a structured survey approach. Based on the results of the attitude survey, a "how to" question is addressed: how to influence, orient and guide student perceptions and attitudes to mental development and professional and civic responsibility in a technology-oriented classroom? Conceivably, a "vision of the possible" type answer might emerge from these investigations pointing to a pedagogy of values-based education through the medium of technical content. Ongoing

The "Tension Axes" We conceptualize three axes that reflect student expectations and attitudes toward educational outcomes. Pairing the axes results in three “tension fields”. The three axes are: 1. Vocational Training versus Intellectual Growth 2.Genuine Learning versus Credential Acquisition 3.Traditional Instruction versus Interactive Pedagogy The questions in the questionnaires represent scales on which students place themselves, based on their expectations and attitudes. Below are the scatter graphs and the regression lines of the results.

Tension Field Regression The scatter diagrams of averaged attitude scores of N = 100 students are shown in the three diagrams above. There seems to be a clear relationship between the three scales, especially strong between goal-setting of genuine learning and the desire for an interactive, participatory pedagogy.

Results and Discussion The administered surveys list 34 learning perception and preference questions and 12 educational goal setting objectives. The 34 statements in the survey are grouped in odd-even pairs intending, to some degree, alternative (dichotomic) choices. I didn't expect students to necessarily see the pairs as dichotomies, and for most pairs they did not. However, it is interesting to observe that in the cases where they seemed to have the strongest views or emotions, the pairs indeed appeared as dichotomies (the agreed statement showing high mean, median and mode values, the disagreed ones showing the opposite). Overall, a few observations can be made about the results. 1. Based on the sample, students seem to have a strong preference for detailed, step-by-step, prescriptive instruction and a strong dislike of having to perform independent forms of learning and studying. This could be labeled as the liking of a "spoon feeding" or "hand holding" teaching style. There is also a disinclination of having to take responsibility for lacking background. Students seem to assume that their lack of background knowledge is their professor's problem, and expect that the professor will "fill in the gap", even if this happens at the expense of full coverage of course content. 2. Furthermore, the results indicate that students in the sample feel that they learn better from their professor, and by interaction with the professor, as opposed to learning by distance education or by peer education in student groups. There seems to be shared dislike of learning from textbooks, as opposed to in-class or out of class interactive activities. 3. There is also a marked preference towards liking courses in one's major and a general dislike of General Education. These findings are also reflected to a significant degree by the result of the survey of ranking learning objectives. The top 3 ranked educational goals are, in descending order of rank (from top to top 3rd) Some charts of these statistics (sample size N = 100) are shown below. An inspection of these results reinforces some of the earlier findings. 1. Rejection of the concept of a well-rounded, broad education, a fact that is reflected, among others, by the dislike of General Education. 2. Preference to interactive learning, as opposed to e.g. studying from a textbook. 3. Preference of a well-structured program of study, with the professor providing detailed instructions on what and how to study, as opposed to taking responsibility for an independent, self-structured mode of learning. In addition, the importance students attribute to socializing among themselves (as distinguished from interacting with persons more knowledgeable than themselves, such as faculty), and a relatively low ranking of tangible outcomes of education (degrees, credentials, money making ability) are also showing. Pedagogy Experimentation Results: The results of the three approaches outlined in the Methodologies and Types of Evidence section seem to indicate that fun puzzles, increased visualization and frequent self-reflection increase student engagement and reduce science and math anxiety. Additionally, frank and honest discussions of the shortcomings of the U.S. K-12 education system (poor background knowledge, practically non-existing math and science skills, math and science phobias) together with pointing out that the situation is not the students' fault but of the education system they are subjected to is helpful in resolving fear and resentment related to hard, science, math and technology-intensive courses. Students are also appreciative of a genuinely helpful attitude by the instructor in form of setting aside time to review math background and provide practice opportunities as needed. Seeing the instructor as an ally rather than an "enemy", building trust and humanizing technological subjects e.g. by demonstrating technology failures and pointing out the importance of human intervention, seem to be key factors of increasing student receptiveness to messages of intellectual and ethical development. In general, trust and curiosity appear to be the most helpful states of mind that facilitate student success in science, math and technology-oriented classes.

Career Relevance & Impact This project is part of my UWGB Teaching Scholar and my OPID Wisconsin Teaching Scholar research programs. Plans are being formulated to extend the study to larger, campus and possibly state-wide student group samples and for more detailed statistical analysis of the obtained larger data sets. Spring 2008