(82h) Evaluation of Conceptual Testing Enhanced with Technical Writing and Just-in-Time Teaching

This study investigates the effectiveness of a combination of just-in-time teaching and conceptual testing (“concept quizzes”) requiring either written or multiple-choice answers toward improving student performance in an introductory material and energy balances course. Multiple linear regression models, pairwise hypothesis testing and ANOVA analyses were used to determine if treatment groups affected student performance compared to a control group. It was found that a combination of written-answer concept quizzes and just-in-time teaching activities significantly increased (p=0.003) student scores on an AIChE Concept Warehouse testing inventory. However, no tested treatment had a significant effect on student exam performance, even on exam questions related to concepts stressed in concept quizzes; it is suggested this finding is due to tested exam questions having a computational rather than conceptual focus. A lingering concern for instructors assigning written-answer concept quizzes is that ESL students may be disadvantaged due to additional language translation steps which are not faced by native-speaking students. This concern was investigated using a nonparametric Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney test which indicated that ESL status of students assigned written-answer concept quizzes was not found to have a significant effect on various measures of student performance (p=0.47-0.77).