Does Active Learning Promote Understanding And Entrepreneurial Tendencies?

Engineering colleges are interested in finding ways to develop the entrepreneurial spirit within their graduates. Many believe that this will contribute to future job security and economic prosperity in this country. Active in-class learning activities, such as in class problems and discussion, seems to have potential for promoting better understanding by more fully engaging the students. This stimulus then could pique student’s curiosities, motivating them to think more deeply and creatively about the subject matter and how it could be applied in an entrepreneurial way to solve modern day problems via technological solutions. A study was conducted in a Junior level core chemical engineering course to determine whether more active learning activities leads to better understanding and retention of the course material and to students exhibiting more entrepreneurial tendencies. One section of approximately 25 students experienced active learning activities for approximately 25% of the in-class time, whereas the other section of the same size experienced active learning approximately 50% of the time. With regards to the types of active learning activities – a similar balance was employed for each section. Exam performances of the two sections were compared against each other to assess the degree to which an increase in active learning promotes understanding and retention. Entrepreneurial tendencies were noted for individual students as they worked on group projects near the end of the semester. Before the projects were handed out, both sections were exposed to lectures on state-of-the-art heat transfer technological solutions to some current problem(s). During these lectures, entrepreneurial characteristics (i.e. creativity and “big-picture thinking” etc..) and skills (i.e. problem identification, market analysis and patent searching etc..) that were exhibited during the conception and development of the new technologies were emphasized. In assessing performance on the projects, it was noted whether the students chose project ideas that extended from the concepts learned during the active learning activities and to what degree those students exhibited entrepreneurial tendencies by identifying and developing creative new technology ideas in the area of heat transfer.