Use of pre-class quizzes to promote active learning in acoustics

Classroom instruction can be inefficient or ineffective when students do not come to class prepared. One strategy to engage students prior to class is the use of pre-class quizzes. One pedagogical method developed for introductory courses by physics education researchers is pre-class “just-in-time-teaching” quizzes. As a variation on that idea, pre-class learning activities have been used with great success in the general education acoustics course at Brigham Young University (BYU). However, such methods are not often applied at the advanced undergraduate and graduate levels. This paper reviews some of the findings from the introductory course efforts and then describes the implementation of pre-class quizzes for two advanced acoustics courses at BYU. Two lessons learned thus far are 1) the questions, which have a free-response format, must be carefully constructed so that the instructor can gauge student understanding, and 2) when successfully implemented, the quizzes can provide an effective framework for a class discussion of a topic, rather than a lecture with little to no participation.