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Making UA Engineering an Epicenter of Active Learning

anto graduated from the UA with a taste
for how collaborative learning changes
Kthe classroom experience. His adviser,
University Distinguished Professor of Chemical and
Environmental Engineering Paul Blowers, was on a
journey to try different teaching techniques. Today,
Blowers is recognized as one of the UA’s collaborative
teaching experts.
“He made a large impact in the way I view teaching
and engineering training,” Kanto says.
In a collaborative environment, students take an
active role in the learning process. For example, instead
of listening to a lecture, they might explain concepts
to their peers and solve problems in small groups.
Expanding collaborative teaching is a high priority for
the College of Engineering and the university.
“It’s not that we as instructors make the classes
easier, but we remove many of the barriers that exist
between freshman year and graduation,” Blowers says.
“We help students to have a growth mindset, to have a
peer network for helping each other, and to change the
way they study.”
Ryan Kanto’s sister, Kara, also experienced this
shift in teaching. Kara Kanto has earned two bachelor’s
degrees from the UA: She completed a graphic design
degree in 2010, then returned to earn a chemical
engineering degree in 2017.
“I got to hear her perspective on the next version
of these collaborative training classes,” Ryan Kanto
says. “It was really cool to hear about how they’ve
evolved and how successful they were in helping her to
understand.”
Kanto and his wife were so inspired by the
possibilities that they made a gift to help change the
fundamental way engineering is taught at the UA.
Their gift will support collaborative teaching for a
five-year period. The gift includes funding faculty
training, remodeling classrooms, rigorously tracking
and evaluating teaching methods, and publishing the
findings.
The College of Engineering has already started
tracking retention rates for chemical engineering
majors who take active learning classes, and their
research shows improved retention. The Kantos and the
college’s leaders want to build on this initial success by
offering more of these classes and by identifying and
implementing the specific techniques most helpful to A column still at Quantum Spirits / Kelly Bedoloto photo
students.

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