The intellectual content and social activity of
engineering product development are a constant source of
surprise, excitement, and challenge for engineers. When
our students experience product-based-learning (PBL), they
experience this excitement (Brereton et al., 1995). They
also have fun and perform beyond the limits required for
simple grades. We, their teachers, experience these things
too. Why, then, are so few students and faculty getting
the PBL message? How, then, can we put the excitement back
in engineering education? In part, we think this is because
of three persistent mistakes in engineering education:1. We focus on individual students.2. We focus on engineering analysis versus communication
between engineers.3. We fail to integrate thinking skills in engineering
science and engineering practice.
Series: Engineering science and architecture
