Collaborative Research: Using Video Media to Enhance Conceptual Learning in an Undergraduate Thermodynamics Course

该项目是一个合作的努力，涉及曼哈顿学院，肯塔基州大学和巴克内尔大学，利用媒体精明的一代学生所拥有的技能，以加强热力学的概念学习。 该项目让学生开发一个教学视频，使用常见的隐喻教授热力学概念，然后观看由不同机构的同行开发的类似结构的教学视频。前者采用自学式学习，而后者则利用对等学习。为了测量这些治疗对概念学习的影响，研究人员正在使用热力学概念清单进行基线评估，并使用类似的工具进行治疗后评估。此外，学生的情感领域的反应正在测量问卷。 通过突出的跳板，如AIChE教育司网站和NSDL图书馆的资源部分，提供视频集，并通过向在其他机构教授热力学和类似课程的人发送新闻资料袋以及通过在全国会议上进一步分发资料袋（例如，ASEE和AIChE）。 传统的传播工作包括在国家会议上的教师研讨会，会议介绍和期刊出版物。 更广泛的影响包括通过在YouTube上张贴视频大力传播，以及通过各种机制大力推广这一方法。

The project is a collaborative effort involving Manhattan College, University of Kentucky, and Bucknell University that uses the skills possessed by a media savvy generation of students to enhance conceptual learning of thermodynamics. The project is having students develop an instructional video that teaches a concept in thermodynamics using common metaphors, and then watch a similarly constructed instructional video developed by peers at a different institution. The former employs autodidactic learning, while the latter takes advantage of peer-to-peer learning. To measure the effects of these treatments on conceptual learning, the investigators are conducting a baseline assessment using a thermodynamics concept inventory and a post-treatment assessment using a similar instrument. Additionally, student affective domain responses are being measured with a questionnaire. The collection of videos is being made available through prominent springboards, such as the resources section of the AIChE Education Division Website and the NSDL library, and they are being aggressively promoted using a press kit sent out to those who teach thermodynamics and similar courses at other institutions as well as through further distribution of the kit at national conferences (e.g., ASEE and AIChE). Traditional dissemination efforts include faculty workshops at national meetings, conference presentations, and journal publications. Broader impacts include the strong dissemination effort with video postings on YouTube and the aggressive promotion of the approach through various mechanisms.