In this collaborative project, the University of Missouri-Columbia, Kansas State, and Virginia Tech are conducting research on case reuse when learning to solve problems in diverse science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Students often attempt to solve problems by applying the lessons learned from previous problem cases. However, they frequently fail to reuse examples appropriately because their retrieval is based on a comparison of the surface features of the problem cases being studied, not their structural features. In order to facilitate the transfer of learning from problems based on structural features, this project is conducting iterative, design-based research on case reuse. This includes testing strategies and materials for enhancing problem-solving instruction in diverse STEM disciplines; developing scalable comprehensive methods for assessing different dimensions of problem-solving performance; creating and testing web-based learning environments for engaging problem solving; and disseminating and implementing these pedagogical innovations in STEM classrooms at four different institutions.
Approximately 3,000 undergraduate students in physics, electrical engineering, and engineering courses at our universities are participating in the project. The project evaluation uses multiple approaches, and draws on both qualitative and quantitative methods, including questionnaires, interviews, evaluator site visit field notes, classroom observation notes, and institutional and course documents. Collectively these methods allow us to measure the effectiveness of problem sets and problem-solving assessment strategies developed in the project, and to compare student outcomes between the experimental and control groups. Materials developed by the project will be made available to undergraduate STEM educators, both as documents and in web-based learning environments that guide implementation of the project's strategies and other materials at other undergraduate institutions. In this way, our research on case reuse will have an impact on the teaching of problem solving across the nation.
