Rethinking Teaching Approach for Engineering Calculus

Engineering Calculus is a key cornerstone of an Engineering Programme. Therefore, it is imperative that students have a good grasp on the material for engineering students to succeed in their studies. There is a shift in students' attention span over the years. In the age when the younger generation is consuming short-form content, traditional teaching and learning approaches of conducting lecturers is becoming increasingly difficult to capture the attention of disengaged students in a longer duration. In this paper, a case study for revamping the teaching and learning approach taken for an 'Engineering Calculus' course is presented. Based on feedback from underperforming students and discussion, an example-based approach is taken, in place of a traditional lecturer-tutorial teaching and learning module. After a trial run of the new approach with the same cohort of students, results had shown that the students were more engaged and willing to actively participate in class. This shift in students' learning attitude is also reflected in an improved grade performance overall.