Article 1

Mary Annette Rose, Steven Shumway, Vinson Carter, Josh Brown, Identifying
Characteristics of Technology and Engineering Teachers Striving for Excellence
Using a Modified Delphi, 2015
Article 2
Carter, Vinson. Defining Characteristics of an Integrated STEM Curriculum in K-12
Education. 2013
Article 3
Ryan P. Siebenmorgan, Don W. Edgar, Vinson R. Carter, Donald M. Johnson, An
Evaluation of Teaching Methods Based on Cognitive Achievement, 2016

An Evaluation of Teaching Methods Based on Cognitive Achievement

This article seeks to explain the results of a research study that was conducted to
determine if the method of delivery of content of new material has a significant
impact on learning. The study was guided by five questions regarding instructional
techniques and what impact they have on student learning. Before the study was
conducted, it was field-tested first using students at the University of Arkansas
students and there was a pilot study conducted using a smaller group of students.
This was done to ensure the validity of the results of the actual study. The final test
group consisted of 333 students enrolled at several high schools in Northwest
Arkansas. Data was collected from 27 classes with 9 classes provided each of the
three types of instruction. All of the students were all enrolled in agricultural
science classes. Students were given a pretest, instruction, and a posttest to
determine if they gain more new knowledge through lecture, demonstration, or a
combination of lecture and demonstration.

For the purposes of this study, students were given instruction on the production of
bio-diesel. Prior to the beginning of the lesson, all students were given a pretest to
determine their existing knowledge of the production of bio-diesel. All students
received a 40-minute lesson describing what bio-diesel is, how it is made, how it is
used and quality standards. All students received the same content, the first group
of students received lecture only, and they were only given facts related to the
content matter. The next group of students was given the same content using
demonstration only. These students were more involved in the learning process as
they were gathered around a device and were allowed actually see what was being
taught and able to interact with the device and how to work it. The last group of
students was given a combination of teaching techniques, it began with a lecture
followed by a demonstration of the device and while further lecture was provided,
they were allowed to interact with the device. Immediately following instruction,
students were given a posttest.
After all the data was collected and analyzed, the study suggested that as it relates to
knowledge acquisition, instructional techniques have a high effect on high cognitive
processing while there is little effect on low cognitive processing. One of the guiding
questions of this research was to determine what impact instructional techniques
have on knowledge acquisition. The research suggested that when it relates to low
cognitive processing, there is no significant difference in knowledge acquisition
using the different types of instruction. But when relates to high cognitive
processing, the combination of lecture and demonstration yielded significantly
better results. The next research question relates to instructional techniques as it

relates to student achievement. This study found no significant influence on student

achievement from instructional techniques. The next research question was related
to the students perception of tinkering self-efficacy, it found that students who
consider themselves as high in tinkering self-efficacy preferred demonstration over
lecture as a teaching method. The study however did not find that there was a
correlation of the students percepts of their own tinkering self-efficacy and
knowledge acquisition, which was the fifth research question. The study concluded
by recommending further research to examine and understand the relationship
between instructional technique and knowledge acquisition.