Preparedness of Engineering Freshman to Inquiry-Based Learning

Educational experts, past and present, urge engineering colleges nationwide to transform their pedagogical paradigm from a predominantly lecture- to an inquiry-based teaching approach. Written comments by two seniors, deploring having to read and write in a required course of an ABET accredited program, highlight a common expectation of today’s students. Presented are the disturbing results of a survey that assessed the level of learning skills exhibited by 1,020 engineering freshmen. Time management not only surfaced as needing drastic remediation but it also correlated with the level of students’ motivation to succeed in college. Problems with poor time management were listed by 25% of the freshman cohort at the end of the first semester. From monitoring the submittals of online homework it was learned that timeliness corresponded with the final grade achieved in a course. The work presented in this paper indicates that universities need not only to address the students’ learning preferences but also equip them with the skills necessary to engage actively in the knowledge-building process, a necessary sea-change in engineering education.