The Effects of a First Year Engineering Class Using the SCALE-Up Method on Student Retention and Subsequent Student Pass Rates

Due to the increased demand for engineers, the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) created a new, first year engineering class using the Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies (SCALE-Up) method to specifically address engineering student retention by encouraging student persistence and success throughout their academic career. Since UTA enjoys a very diverse student population with varying learning styles, socio-economic backgrounds, and prior knowledge and preparation, the SCALE-Up method was chosen due to its reliance on problem-based, active learning strategies, peer instruction through teamwork, and peer leaders within the classroom. After two and a half years of implementation of this class, known as ENGR 1300 – Engineering Problem Solving, this paper will explore the first year and second year engineering retention rates. This comparison will show that engineering retention rates have increased since ENGR 1300 was implemented. Further, this paper will show this increase occurs across multiple student type groups, provided that the student take ENGR 1300 in their first semester. Finally, to assess the positive effects of the new class, this paper will show that the pass rates of three subsequent mechanical engineering classes, Statics, Dynamics, and Strength of Materials, increased after ENGR 1300 was implemented.Cockrell School of Engineerin

The Ethics of the Vietnam War

Although the Vietnam Conflict was not conducted in an entirely ethical manner, the war provided a tangible example of the extent of Kennan’s containment theory and its effect on the United States in the twentieth century

Considering ELLs When Planning Lessons

Teachers typically prepare lesson plans for non-ELLs and then attempt to “retrofit” lesson plans for ELLs. This article offers suggestions for planning mathematics lessons that meet ELLs’ needs

Online retail in Australia 2007-2013

This study of online retail in Australia from 2007-13, part of the World Internet Project (WIP) reveals a consistent pattern of large increases in the number of online purchases made by Australian consumers, reaching an average expenditure of 2616 a year in 2013. Online shopping in Australia is enjoying a strong second wave of growth as more consumers build internet browsing, purchasing and financial transactions into their everyday lives.  After an apparent plateau between 2009 and 2011, this latest survey confirms that online shopping by Australian consumers grew strongly again between 2011 and 2013.  The mean value of monthly online purchases by Australians grew by 5.8% to 218 from 2011-13, while the actual number of internet purchases grew by 46.2%. Men are still the internet shopping kings, buying $229 in online goods a month, compared to women’s purchases of$204. The good news for Australian businesses is that local retailers are maintaining their share of this growth, as Australian consumers maintain their strong preference for shopping with domestically-based websites.  Three out of ten Australians now shop online every week, or more often, compared with two in ten New Zealanders and one in ten Swiss. There has also been a continued major upsurge in the number of Australians using the internet for financial transactions. For example people making travel bookings online grew from 49% in 2007 to 73% in 2013, those paying bills grew from 43% to 72% and those purchasing event tickets from 36% to 65%. The latest survey also reveals renewed growth in Australians buying digital content – movies, books, music, games etc – online rather than in-store. The WIP is conducted in 30 countries round the world to compare internet use and behaviour. In Australia it consists of an annual survey of 1000 people aged 18 or older and has been running since 2007. The WIP is part of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation. • Dr Scott Ewing is a Senior Research Fellow at the Swinburne Institute for Social Research and at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Creative Industries and Innovation. &nbsp

Community engagement: Talking about mathematics

Implementing assessment into early childhood (EC) undergraduate courses necessitates supporting learners in informed and intentional ways; since knowing how to teach comes from within the act of teaching itself. Consequently their practical knowledge builds through deliberate events which stimulate further insight and skill in what they do. Taken-for-granted assumptions that undergraduate students bring to the classroom can be challenged in such ways that they make implicit ideas explicit subsequently changing them to correspond with their new practices. Students can “test” out alternative approaches in real classroom contexts and then refine their own practical knowledge through reflection