The Power of Play: A Pediatric Role in Enhancing Development in Young Children

Children need to develop a variety of skill sets to optimize their development and manage toxic stress. Research demonstrates that developmentally appropriate play with parents and peers is a singular opportunity to promote the social-emotional, cognitive, language, and self-regulation skills that build executive function and a prosocial brain. Furthermore, play supports the formation of the safe, stable, and nurturing relationships with all caregivers that children need to thrive

Does performance-based assessment in an introductory circuits laboratory improve student learning?

Undergraduate engineering students regularly participate in laboratory experiences in introductory circuit theory courses. Based on instructor experience, it can be observed that students often struggle to remember how to use test and measurement equipment or important software from week to week, making long term retention of necessary skills inadequate. The facilitators of this study searched for strategies to improve student retention of important skills, and drew inspiration from performance-based assessment strategies used in the healthcare profession. In particular, physical therapy students are often subject to skills checks, where they must demonstrate competency in standard techniques for physical therapy practice. This approach was adapted to an introductory circuit theory lab, in which students were given regular skills checks to test competency with hardware and software standard in circuit theory courses. Data were collected for three years by asking students to complete anonymous Likert scale surveys designed to allow students to self-assess their achievement of the laboratory learning outcomes. The first year was a control group in which performance-based assessment was not used, while year two and three were separate experimental groups which were subject to skills checks. As a result of the addition of skills checks to the laboratory experience, student self-assessment of achievement of laboratory learning outcomes increased dramatically. This result is promising for the inclusion of skills checks in engineering laboratories to improve student competency using hardware and software common to engineering practice

Time for reflection: Development of twenty short videos to introduce new topics and engage students in circuit theory

One of the essential components of the Kolb Experiential Learning Cycle is allowing students the time to reflect on new experiences prior to abstraction and application of new material. Most commonly this is attempted by assigning readings from a textbook, but research suggests that few students complete these readings. This discouraging fact has prompted the use of videos to supplement pre-class readings to introduce new material in courses such as Circuit Theory. Unfortunately, most existing video resources on Circuit Theory topics are overly long, dull, or lacking in production quality. In addition, many of these videos are monetized by running advertisements, which may deter students from watching. To overcome these issues, 20 short videos were created for an introductory circuits course. These videos are generally shorter than five minutes, are written with simple, real world or pop culture illustrations and humor, and include a worked-out example. The videos are freely available on YouTube, without advertisements. The efficacy and value of the videos were assessed via course exams and quizzes, an end-of-course student survey, and YouTube analytics. The results indicate that 85% of the students felt that the videos helped them prepare for class, and 92% would recommend the videos to students taking Circuit Theory at another university. When asked how much they would pay for the set of videos, the average response was $19.30. The videos may have also had a positive impact on student learning. Students having access to the videos scored 8.36% higher on the final exam than did comparable students taking the same exam the previous year. This paper contributes to electrical engineering education by providing a freely available set of videos that other instructors may use to increase student engagement and learning

A mixed learning approach to integrating digital signal processing laboratory exercises into a non-lab junior year DSP course

Laboratory courses can be difficult to fit into an engineering program at a liberal arts-focused university, which requires students to be exposed to appropriate breadth, as well as sufficient depth in their engineering education. One possible solution to this issue is to integrate laboratory exercises with lecture in a \u27studio\u27 format, in which students apply lecture concepts directly to in-class assignments. Another possible solution is to give students \u27take-home\u27 laboratory assignments. Both of these methods have shortcomings: the studio format takes away valuable lecture time, and the take-home format provides limited access to the instructor. As such, this work presents a mixed learning method that includes lectures and laboratory work in both the studio and take-home formats, implemented in a junior level signal processing course. Students learn skills during lecture in studio laboratory exercises, and apply these skills to two in-depth take-home projects. Students refine their applied skills during projects, thereby informing a better studio lab experience. In order to assess the student\u27s developed skills, project results are delivered as research papers formatted to comply with IEEE standards, which are submitted for blind review to several faculty members, as well as their peers. Reviewers employ a prescriptive rubric to rate papers as accept/revise/reject and provide associated comments. To assess the success of this mixed learning method, the overall ratings for the research papers from the first project will be compared to the second project, accounting for project complexity. The chief contribution of this work is the presentation of a method for providing laboratory instruction in a mid-year DSP course, demonstrating that this method may be adapted for other courses at similar institutions

Development of a low-cost, two-degree-of-freedom spring-cart system and system identification exercises for dynamic modeling

Laboratory experiences provide undergraduate engineering students with knowledge that comes primarily from hands-on activity. Some universities may lack necessary funds to utilize some of the equipment used in engineering education; so low-cost alternatives can be constructed. Low-cost laboratory experiences should be designed according to the following requirements: they should provide a framework to assess the achievement of associated learning outcomes, they should provide a visual demonstration of theoretical information, they should be user friendly, and they should provide consistent results. This paper details the construction of a low-cost spring mass damper apparatus and laboratory exercise, for system identification in a dynamic modeling or vibrations course. This paper also describes the methods used for system identification, an assessment framework, and information for accessing the project materials via the author\u27s website and videos on YouTube. The results of an initial test of this laboratory experience with a small student population demonstrate the effectiveness of the lab materials and apparatus in facilitating student learning