Mechanics Knowledge Enhanced with Videos Illustrating Concepts Experienced with Hands-on Activities

The use of hands-on activities has been proven in the past to be effective in teaching pedagogies. Many of the concepts taught in engineering undergraduate courses are counter intuitive and, especially in a time when students interact less intensively with real world application, exposure to models are essential for learning. Recognizing this need, a first year Mechanics course at the University of X has already implemented the use of seven hands-on activities. However, time limitations resulted in students participating in only two out of the seven activities. Each group of students experienced two different activities from the rest of the class, in other words not all the students in the class experienced the same activities. Instructional videos were developed to allow students who haven’t experienced the model to have an idea about these models and the concepts related to them. The videos are also used as a teaching approach to show students how mechanics concepts are applied. Learning is taken place through a combination of observational learning, experiential learning, activity preparedness, and reflective learning. Prior to doing their activities, students are required to view their respective videos as instruction. Afterward, they have the opportunity to watch all of the remaining videos. With this process, students begin to understand the activities before beginning, then continue to reflect on it after completion and through the viewing of other concepts. Thereby, reinforcing the material by improving deeper learning and memory retention. For the study, three groups of students were assessed based on their exposure to the material. The benefits of using these videos was positively determined based on comparing the assessment results of, students who have watched the videos and done the activity, those who have only watched the videos, and upper years who have had no exposure to videos or activities. The highest retention of the material was in the group who both viewed the videos and did the activity. Also, those who only watched the videos had greater retention of the content than those with no exposure to the activities at all.