KEENzine5

37 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 PERCENTAGE OF RESPONSES (55 TOTAL) PERCENTAGE OF RESPONSES (55 TOTAL) KEY:    Yes   No   Maybe Figure 2b. Last day of class. KEY:    Yes   No   Maybe Figure 2a. First day of class. Figure 2 1 2 3 4 5 QUESTION NUMBER 1 2 3 4 5 QUESTION NUMBER T he flipped format made an EML activity a natural fit for the first in-class period. We decided to create an assignment that would excite students about the dreaded term paper. In our experience, we realized two things: (1) students have a difficult time selecting term paper topics and (2) we needed to find a way to excite students about their topics to improve the quality of the papers. Years ago, Andrea developed an assignment called Geology in the News. The students loved the assignment, but we thought we could revamp it to introduce geology and help students with their term papers. We now use the assignment on the first and last days of the course to foster and maintain student interest in geology and its relevance to engineering. We instruct the students to form groups of four or five. Each group is assigned two generic news headlines that feature stories about geology, e.g. “Scientists Warn Yellowstone Supervolcano Could Kill Millions” and “Damage From Sinking Land Costing California Billions.” Students then are allowed to use any device to investigate the stories behind the headlines and discuss themwith their group members. Most students choose to use their smartphones. After researching both headlines for 10 minutes, each group creates a summary. They choose one headline to focus on. Students discuss whether they believe the story represents legitimate concerns founded on science or is a case of public misconception. The groups then identify opportunities for improvement, to solve a problem, and/or to address a common need related to the headline they chose. The students brainstorm at least five potential solutions. Finally, the groups choose their favorite idea and are given 10 minutes to develop a two-minute pitch. Each group pitches its idea to the rest of the class using the board and any figures they have drawn. Groups then vote for their favorite idea and pitch (other than their own group’s). For five or six groups, the activity takes 40 minutes to complete. This assignment addresses the 3C’s by requiring students to identify opportunities and brainstorm ideas (curiosity), perform research and integrate information frommany sources (connections), and identify opportunities to solve a problem (creating value). Beyond embedding EML concepts in a simple and straightforward way, this assignment helped more than half the students identify a term paper topic in a fun and collaborative way on the first day of class. To confirm this, we administered an anonymous survey after the activity on both the first and last days of class to evaluate the entrepreneurial aspects and identify areas for improvement. We asked: For the activity that you just completed, do you feel that you: 1) Exercised curiosity about the surrounding world and topics related to geology? 2) Identified opportunities for improvement, to solve a problem, and to address a common need? 3) Brainstormed and thought outside-the-box to explore novel ideas/solutions? 4) Integrated information from various sources to gain insight regarding the problem? 5) First class period: Identified potential topics or directions for your term paper that you are interested in learning more about? Last class period: Made connections with the content we have covered in this course (or to your term paper)? The answer choices were “Yes,” “No,” or “Maybe.” Researching the news headlines and hearing about other groups’ ideas helped students identify a topic for their term paper that they were genuinely interested in early in the semester. More than half the students left the first day of class with potential ideas for their term papers. The results are shown in Figure 2. “Scientists Warn Yellowstone Supervolcano Could Kill Millions” EASY EML “Earthquakes In Indiana Triggered By Fracking”