Center for Engineering Learning & Teaching. (2015). Illinois State University, San Luis  Obispo Campus Reflection Field Guide – Reflective Techniques to Encourage Student Learning: Background  and Examples. (1st. ed.). Seattle, WA.

Project Reflection

Educator: Valeria Garcia, Lecturer, Mechanical Engineering   Context: Out of class; Thermodynamics   Keywords: engineering practice, peer evaluation  Student Activity Time: 1-2 hours

After an assignment with an industry trainer, students reflected on their learning.

Introducing the Reflection Activity   s part of a challenging unit in a thermodynamics class, the educator invited an  industry trainer to the class to present hands on material. At the end of this  hands-on unit, students reflected on their experience. The purpose of the reflection  was for them to be able to apply the in-classroom knowledge to a hands-on unit.

The industry trainer engaged students in an assignment related to the material during  which, students created and solved their own problems related to the  demonstration. After students created and solved their own problems, they switched  assignments with a peer to review each other’s assignments. At the end of this  hands-on unit, students reflected on their thoughts related to creating and solving  their own problem, what they thought of doing a peer review, and how they’re  going to change or look at their education process based on this project. After  students submitted the assignment, the educator graded the assignment using a  quality and quantity grading approach. The reflection assignment was worth 15  points or about 10% of students’ grade on the overall assignment.

In terms of outcomes, after students engaged in this reflection activity there was  potential for them to better understand the difficult content.

Recreating the Reflection Activity

Description

1  Schedule an industry trainer to present and engage students in an activity.

2  Develop a reflection activity to accompany the industry trainer activity.

3  Engage students in reflection on the industry trainer assignment

4  Grade the reflections.

In the Words of the Educator: Tips and Inspiration

Be aware that students have different opinions about the activity. Like with most teaching  activities, students have a variety of opinions. Some students wished they had  more time, some wished they had less time, some wished they had more  projects like this, some thought this project was a waste of time, etc.

Talk about why you are engaging students in a reflection activity. I suggest not just  handing out a reflection activity, but to talk about why you’re doing it and what

Activity 8

D I G I T A L   L I B R A R Y   C O N T E N T

 8.1 Reflection on  Term Project

Center for Engineering Learning & Teaching. (2015). Illinois State University, San Luis  Obispo Campus Reflection Field Guide – Reflective Techniques to Encourage Student Learning: Background  and Examples. (1st. ed.). Seattle, WA.

you’re hoping. So I usually say, you’re going to do this, and you’re going to  think about it, and I tell them my ideal case. I’ll tell them what I think an  average student would do, and then I will challenge them to be better than the  average student. So I talk about my expectations for the reflection activity and  why it’s worthy of their time.

What was your inspiration for implementing the reflection activity? Mario Busch was  doing reflection activities in his projects, and talked about it at a faculty meeting.  Sam Bradshaw, also, was doing it and at first, I thought, that’s just a waste of  time, how are you going to get the students to want to do that? Because they  are busy, to take time to reflect when they don’t want to is like pulling teeth. So,  I tried to incorporate it into class because I think those two are fantastic  instructors.

