Utilizing Empathy-Based Course Modules to Enhance Student Motivation in Lower Level Mechanics Courses

摘要

Many students straggle with motivation in lower level engineering mechanics courses. It is not unusual for instructors to hear students make comments like "Will this be on the test?", "Can I borrow the book?", and "D's get degrees." There seems to be an underlying belief on the part of these students that they will not need this information in the future. Thus, they find it difficult to exert the hours of effort necessary to learn the material. This lack in understanding relevance logically leads to poor academic performance, repeated courses, and all too often, student dropout. In 2013, the author was part of a team that won a grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation for a three year project to enhance education by introducing elements of wheelchair research into various undergraduate courses. The goal was to utilize research instrumentation and demonstrations to not only teach technical aspects of a course, but to increase student motivation to learn those aspects. Toward that end, the demonstrations were directly related to the human need of mobility, thus enhancing motivation with an empathetic aspect. By showing how theory presented in mechanics courses could be used to develop better wheelchairs to help people, it was hoped that students would be more motivated to learn. Therefore, the primary intent was not to determine if the students learned a technical point, but if the demonstration made them want to. This paper summarizes the results of that effort as well as suggestions for those considering such interdisciplinary activities.