learning. There has been a tremendous amount of research in the educational community on the benefits of active learning. The research has demonstrated that in addition to achieving learning objectives related to content, students develop abilities in communication, leadership, ethical decision making, and critical thinking. One of our biggest successes in implementing active learning has been in Unified Engineering, the set of courses that comprise our sophomore core. In Aero-Astro, the sophomore year is organized around four courses (two in the fall and two in the spring), collectively titled Unified Engineering. Unified has a unique structure, in which five disciplines are taught throughout the year: fluid mechanics, structures and materials, dynamics, signals and systems, and thermodynamics and propulsion. (This year, we will be
Prior to 1998, a few Aero-Astro faculty were sporadically using various active learning techniques, such as turn-to-your-partner
exercises,
in
Unified
Engineering. In the academic year 1998–1999, one of us began using active learning techniques more extensively in Unified. He used concept tests from the Peer
teaching Computers and Programming, instead of
Instruction method advocated by Harvard University
Dynamics, to reflect the increasing importance of
Physics Professor Eric Mazur. In this method, lectures
information systems in aerospace engineering.) Each discipline has about 40 lecture hours spread between the fall and spring terms, except for Thermodynamics and Propulsion, which has 20. In addition, the students learn aspects of systems engineering and design through a series of interdisciplinary problems, called “systems problems.”
30
Steve Hall displays a Personal Response System infrared transmitter. Students use the devices to respond to questions Hall poses during his lectures allowing him to immediately assess understanding and, if necessary, address unsatisfactory results in real-time.
AERO-ASTRO 2003-2004
are punctuated by brief, multiple-choice, conceptual questions to test student understanding of the material. During 1998–1999, the use of concept tests was sporadic, even in the single discipline using the technique. Nevertheless, student response was quite favorable. Students reported that they enjoyed the