Abstract:

In the post-covid19 era we are having a greater dispersion in attentional processes in class in undergraduate students. A decrease in motivation for formal learning and a lack of mental structures that enable complex thinking have been observed. The traditional educational models have long relied on passive learning, nonetheless, learning is a dynamic journey and nowadays, active learning approaches that promote skill development and higher order thinking through activities (Brame, 2016) lead to better understanding, retention, and application of knowledge as students are encouraged to participate actively in their learning process.

For our research we incorporated Internet-of-things (IoT) to involve students in their learning process, incorporating data acquisition, visual and experiential aspects, and the need to analyze data, capturing their attention and inducing mental processes that enable complex thinking and increase motivation for the topic to be reviewed or discussed in class. To develop complex thinking processes, according to Vázquez-Parra, J.C., Castillo-Martínez, I.M., Ramírez-Montoya, M.S., and Millán, A (2022), it is necessary to develop objective knowledge with the methodologies associated with their disciplines (scientific thinking) and on the other hand, it is required to recognize the problems that refer to a system.

This research compares complex thinking before and after applying an IoT based challenge in undergraduate students.

To transform student learning into experiential learning and develop in them data capturing, analyzing, and synthesizing information skills, we use IoT technology to track transportation routes in real time, capturing both the position and the time of occurrence of each event, in such a way that it allows the process to be described with its complexity so that it is understood and analyzed by the students. In students, the aim is to increase commitment with their learning defined as a sustained behavioral participation in learning activities accompanied by a positive emotional tone as defined by Skinner, E. A., & Belmont, M. J. (1993). The instructional model is a learning challenge based with the conscious integration of knowledge and abilities to face situations that require complex mental processes.

The t-paired test revealed a statistically significant difference, with a significance of 0.05, in student performance on systemic thinking, innovation thinking, critical thinking and scientific thinking, all of them constituents of Complex Thinking, ante and post the IoT based learning experience, showing improvement on complex thinking skill within the research students’ group.

Keywords:

Internet of Things, Complex Thinking, Undergraduate education.