Study Labs as a Practical Means of Enhancing Freshman Engineering Courses

One of the biggest shocks for new engineering students is meeting the academic challenges of freshman math, science, and engineering courses.To assist students in meeting those challenges successfully, the West Virginia University (WVU) College of Engineering and Mineral Resources (CEMR) offers free tutoring to freshmen students.Tutoring is offered in all freshmen level math, chemistry, physics, and engineering courses through five nightly two-hour study labs.All freshmen within the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources are required to participate in these study labs at least one time per week.In addition, the freshman engineering program redesigned the second course (ENGR 102) in the two-course sequence designed for all freshmen engineering students as part of the common freshman engineering experience.Previously, the two course sequence consisted of a "problemsolving and design" course, followed by a "programming" course.The two-course sequence has been redesigned to carry the unifying concept of the problem-solving and design process throughout both semesters.MATLAB is taught by presenting students with problems that would require the use of a mathematical programming tool to reach a solution.In this scenario, students, working in teams, are motivated to learn the syntax and structure of the language by the need to solve problems, and therefore, view the software as a problem-solving tool.Evidence of content mastery is assessed, primarily, through evaluation of the quality of student projects.This paper describes the role of study labs in the teaching of ENGR 102 and the effect of study lab participation on student achievement and instructor performance in this programmingintensive, project-focused freshman engineering course.