Session S2G 978-1-4244-6262-9/10/$26.00 ©2010 IEEE October 27 - 30, 2010, Washington, DC 40 th ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference S2G-1 Incorporating Peer Review of Course Term Project in Structural Analysis Course Luciana R. Barroso and James R. Morgan Texas A&M University, lbarroso@civil.tamu.edu, jim-morgan@tamu.edu Abstract - Students frequently find their junior year challenging as those courses provide the transition between lower-level courses where fundamentals are emphasized and upper-level design courses where instructors assume prior knowledge. Project-based learning provides a great instrument for students to enhance their learning and further develop critical engineering skills. However, students still struggle when not given exact procedural steps and want the reassurance they are ‘doing the correct thing.” This paper presents the implementation of a peer-review cycle into the team course project of a structural analysis course. The peer review process asks students to evaluate and provide feedback on both the analytical content as well as the written presentation of the project. This process allows students to see different approaches, both in analysis and in presentation, to the same problem. Their familiarity with the problem allows them to provide constructive feedback, while reviewing the work of another group allows them an objectivity they cannot yet apply to their own work. The peer review cycle not only enhances the learning of the material for the course, but it is also a critical engineering skill for students. Index Terms – Peer-Review, Project-Based Learning, Motivation, Structural Analysis. INTRODUCTION Junior-level engineering courses are frequently challenging to students as they provide the transition between lower- level courses where fundamentals are emphasized and upper-level design courses where instructors assume prior knowledge. In order to enhance student learning and develop their abilities to tackle open-ended problems and integrate learning from multiple courses, a realistic project has been incorporated into the junior level structural analysis course. The projects incorporate realistic constraints and teamwork skills. Previous research into developing project- enhanced learning with this course has demonstrated significant learning gains. However, students still have difficulties with making modeling decisions, such as for the loads and structural system, as well as assessing the consequences of their choices and evaluating their overall technical performance. As a result, they frequently request more explicit instruction on exactly what steps to take and are easily frustrated as they proceed with the project as the instructors do not provide exact procedural steps in project- based learning. They also want exact instructions on specific results to present and the format for that presentation. In order to address these issues, a peer review cycle is introduced into the project course component. Approximately half-way through the project completion, student teams are asked to review the modeling being done by another student group and provide formative assessment that can be used to refine and improve the work in progress. This approach is grounded in existing educational research into how people learn [1], cooperative learning [2], as well as the benefits of peer review on developing student writing abilities [3-5] and oral presentations [6]. In this case, development of content knowledge is targeted in addition to increasing students’ communication ability. The model follows a direct teach, then learn by doing, and finally, a learn-by-reviewing/teaching format. The expected outcomes of this process include: • enhanced motivation: to improve the quality of both the learning process and the ability to give (and receive) constructive feedback; • improved cognition and social outcomes in learning: to encourage deeper level or higher-order thinking, and to develop collaborative skills; • an increased sense of responsibility for one's own learning: to enhance ownership of the learning process and the constructed knowledge; and • improved metacognitive skills: to enable students to reflect more critically on their learning. In summary, this paper will present a model for classroom practice, which is based on the peer review, tutoring, and teaching literature, to develop both knowledge and skills in students. Results presented compare student performance the feedback provided by peer-groups as compared with the course Teaching Assistant (TA). Additionally, student perceptions into the peer-review of project submission are presented and discussed. COURSE OVERVIEW Structural analysis, or Theory of Structures, is part of a strict course sequence within the civil engineering degree plan. The sequence starts with basic Statics, which can only be taken after the completion of the freshman year. The sequence then progresses into Mechanics of Materials, into Structural Analysis, and finally to at least one senior structural design course, which may be steel or concrete