Applying Decoding the Disciplines in a Construction Engineering Mechanics Course: A description of the Decoding Interview

Abstract

It is sometimes difficult for educators to understand why students get stuck in theirlearning process. As experts, we take for granted basic moves and shortcuts that we take in ourdisciplines, however, these shortcuts can be major jumps for novice learners, resulting inbottlenecks to their learning progression. Careful analysis of these expert moves can lead toimprovement of student learning. Decoding the Disciplines is a robust process that developedout of the History Learning Project at Indiana University which uses peer interviews to get theeducator to identify those expert moves that students cannot make, resulting in a 'decoding' oftheir disciplinary behavior. Once decoded, the educator models that expert behavior and givesstudents opportunities to practice. This process, however, has yet to be documented in thedomain of construction engineering education. The objective of this paper is to describe the application of the Decoding the Disciplinesprocess in a construction engineering mechanics course using narrative inquiry methods. Theone particular bottleneck under investigation is the importance of the stress-strain relationship tounderstanding material behavior. This paper will describe the decoding interview process andthe resulting instructional model that is developed to demonstrate an expert approach. Theinstructional model addresses motivational factors and provides means for assessing studentperformance and giving feedback. This process is relevant to construction educators who may be struggling with someobstacle to their student's learning. It will provide a demonstration of a way to help studentsovercome that very obstacle drawing from the educator's own expert experience.

Bibliographic data

Tingerthal, J. (2013, June), Applying Decoding the Disciplines in a Construction Engineering Mechanics Course: A description of the Decoding Interview Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--19216

External source

https://peer.asee.org/applying-decoding-the-disciplines-in-a-construction-engineering-mechanics-course-a-description-of-the-decoding-interview