(76h) The "N-Whys": Targeting the Highest Levels of Bloom's Taxonomy in Research

Research experiences are critical components in the professional development of students, but while such opportunities for discovery are tremendously important, research in general is a difficult process.  To emphasize this point, one can look to the words of Albert Einstein who stated, "If we knew what we were doing, we wouldn't call it research." While numerous approaches have been identified to improve student learning in the classroom and to teach research skills, fewer validated methods are available to efficiently train and engage students in the process of research project development in which the students are empowered to be working specifically towards solving societal problems.  Traditional approaches ("solutions") used in directing student research involve providing literature to review, providing lab experiences, encouraging students to attend seminars and research group meetings.  While all of these are commonly used, we contend that these approaches (though tremendously important) represent lower levels on the updated Bloom's taxonomy (i.e., "Remembering", "Understanding", "Applying", and "Analyzing") and as such are inadequate (alone) to promote the highest order thinking skills ("Evaluating" and "Creating").  In the High Performance Learning Environment (Hi-PeLE^TM) which is being pioneered in chemical engineering at TTU, a focus is placed on both the acquisition and transfer of knowledge to real-world problems, and student groups are coached through a process of identifying societal needs and producing prototypes that are responsive to those needs.  In such cases, they are not told the need, rather it is up to the students to work collaboratively, canvas the landscape, and identify a need.  Thus, within this environment, the highest order thinking skills are needed both in the research setting and in the classroom.  The "5 Whys?" is a tool that aids the user in identifying the "root cause of a problem."  Using this methodology, the problem solver asks the question "Why?" several times until the "root cause" is determined, at which point a solution can be implemented.  It is hypothesized that this approach can be used (once a "need" or a "problem" has been identified) to enhance a student's ability to formulate a research project, an activity believed to fall within the highest levels of Bloom's updated taxonomy. Once the problem/need is identified, the question "Why?" will be asked until a "root cause" is identified.  The root cause then forms the basis for creating a measurable research objective to be pursued by the student researcher.  In other words, it is expected that a research project can be easily formulated ("created" after this analysis is completed) that seeks to provide a solution to the "root cause."  In this session, the authors will share their perspectives and case studies on this approach.