Influence of engineering instructors' teaching and learning beliefs on pedagogies in engineering science courses

This study explored how academics' beliefs about teaching and learning influenced their teaching in engineering science courses typically taught in the second or third year of 4-year engineering undergraduate degrees. Data were collected via a national survey of 166 U.S. statics instructors and interviews at two different institutions with 17 instructors of engineering science courses such as thermodynamics, circuits and statics. The study identified a number of common beliefs about how to best support student learning of these topics; each is discussed in relation to the literature about student development and learning. Specific recommendations are given for educational developers to encourage use of research-based instructional strategies in these courses.