Sociocultural approaches to teaching and learning in engineering education: Research-based applications in a pre-engineering course

In this paper, we propose a sociocultural approach as an alternate model of teaching and learning to replace existing and often ineffective models of direct instruction in engineering education. We discuss preliminary findings from a project funded by the U.S. Department of Education Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program to demonstrate the implementation of a sociocultural model of teaching and learning in a freshmen pre-engineering course at a large, Hispanic serving institution located on the US-Mexico border. Specifically, we highlight four features of sociocultural teaching and learning as applied within the context of key activities in this course. These four features include: peer-scaffolding, learning-in-practice, distributed expertise, and engineering-specific writing. Findings from student interviews and focus groups, as well as classroom observations, show that student learning and engagement are positively impacted by class activities that are constructed with an emphasis on small-group social interaction and participation in authentic engineering tasks.