Effects of an Active Learning Approach on Students’ Motivation in an Engineering Course

Abstract

Because there are many positive effects of active learning approaches on students’ motivation and achievement, some authors have recommended that these approaches be widely implemented. A research-intensive university located in the Mid-Atlantic US was interested in adopting this instructional technique, and therefore, experimented with it. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to compare and contrast the effects of an active learning approach on the motivation of students in a treatment and control group. The results of multiple independent sample t-tests showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups on several motivation constructs. We provide explanations for the lack of significant differences, as well as discuss limitations and future research.