Student Autonomy and its Effects on Student Enjoyment in a Traditional Mechanics Course for First-Year Engineering Students

In light of recent literature in educational psychology, this study investigates instructional support and students' autonomy at a small technical undergraduate school. Grounded theory is used to analyze twelve semi-structured open-ended interviews about engineering students' experiences in \textit{Introductory Mechanics }that includes\textit{ Lecture}, \textit{Recitation}, and \textit{Laboratory} components. Using data triangulation with each course component as a unit of analysis, this study examines students' course enjoyment as a function of instructional support and autonomy. The\textit{ Lecture} utilizes traditional instructor-centered pedagogy with predominantly passive learning and no student autonomy. The \textit{Recitation} creates an active learning environment through small group work with a moderate degree of autonomy. The \textit{Laboratory} is designed around self-guided project-based activities with significant autonomy. Despite these differences, all three course components provide similar levels of instructional support. The data reveal that students enjoy the low autonomy provided by \textit{Lecture and Recitations }while finding the \textit{Laboratory} frustrating. Analyses indicate that the differences in autonomy contribute to students' misinterpretation of the three course components' value within the context of the entire course.