Teaching research methods for computer science students using active learning approach

Teaching research methods for scientific research may not be as common as teaching the same course in social science. It may stem from the fact that scientific discovery process varies from one field to another. Hence, when such a course is designed to prepare science students who are new to research, it should be helpful to encourage students to learn it hands-on. In this study, we redesigned research methods course for computer science master's students from a traditional lecture style to embrace an active learning approach. The newly-designed curriculum was exercised during Fall 2016 to teach 31 students majoring in computer science. We examined the course using authentic assessment, behavioral observation with its rubric template, and questionnaires. The results indicated that active learning is an effective pedagogy as students' research skills were greatly improved statistically significantly at p-value less than 0.01. Students confirmed that they found active learning highly useful particularly for learning research presentation skills and writing skills.