Mastery-Level Achievement Method for Assessing Module-Based Educational Tools

Abstract

Active-based learning techniques provide an effective pedagogical strategy to support student learning. This paper describes the development of new assessment techniques to evaluate an active-based intervention incorporated into a junior-level (third year) transportation engineering course. The research team compared the degree of change resulting from the learning intervention using a traditional single group pretest to posttest design. To capture the level of mastery achieved at various categories of physical activity and safety concepts, this study also evaluates project-based learning intervention in an additional two ways: overall MAstery-Level Achievement (MALA) on various categories and total percent of students achieving mastery. The students showed significant improvement at the MALA for all four categories of concepts for various levels of learning. The example evaluation highlights implications for project-based learning related to the demand that active commuting imposes on transportation infrastructure. The MALA method strengthens the assessment of the project-based learning approach by specifically identifying the different levels of mastery achieved for various concept categories.