Date of Award:

5-2015

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Engineering Education

Committee Chair(s)

Oenardi Lawanto

Committee

Oenardi Lawanto

Committee

Kurt Becker

Committee

Michael Pate

Committee

Gary Stewardson

Committee

Wade Goodridge

Abstract

Students’ interpretation of an assigned task is a key determinant of setting goals, choosing strategies to accomplish those goals, monitoring, and self-evaluating outcomes. Laboratory activities, including worksheets, quizzes, and other assignment are designed to improve the understanding of concepts taught in the classroom. The main concern of many laboratory students is simply completion of the task because it is critical to their success. Three objectives were proposed in this study, to investigate: (1) the students’ interpretation of the task before and after the completion of the laboratory activity, (2) the interpretation of the task differs between high- and low- coregulated students, and (3) the relationship between the students’ task interpretation and conceptual understanding in laboratory work. One-hundred and forty-three engineering students enrolled in the course of Fundamental Electronics for Engineers participated in the study.

This study utilized self-regulated learning as a framework in the context of laboratory activities. The specific focus was to understand students’ task interpretation and coregulation and their relationship to students’ conceptual understanding while working in the laboratory. Data were collected using questionnaires and surveys designed to measure students’ task interpretation before and after the completion of selected laboratory activities during the fall semester of 2014. Moreover, a questionnaire to measure the level of coregulation was administrated at the end of each selected laboratory activity.

Findings revealed that a students’ better interpretation of the tasks once they completed it. Also, students with a higher understanding of the task were responsive to their own and team members’ engagement in the assigned tasks. Finally, findings reported a significant relationship between students’ task interpretation and conceptual understanding in laboratory work. When students had a better understanding of what they were to do in the laboratory, they showed an improved comprehension of the concepts involved in the laboratory activity. The study provided new information about the regulated processes of engineering students during laboratory activities. As a consequence, the study may benefit researchers and curriculum developers who are interested in conducting studies to improve engineering curriculum based on how engineering students think about their learning process in a laboratory context.

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