scholarly journals Project Based Learning experience with engineering students for the design of steel structures

Author(s):  
Carmen Ibáñez Usach ◽  
David Hernández Figueirido

This work describes the Project Based Learning (PBL) experience carried out with engineering students in the field of steel structures design during the academic year 2016-2017 at the Universitat Jaume I of Castellón de la Plana (Spain). This experience is integrated in the Master of Science in Industrial Engineering. The experience consists of simulating the activity of a technical office dedicated to the development of structural projects. A real situation comprising the design and calculation of an industrial building for a costumer is presented to the students. Some geometrical aspects according to the customer desires and the industrial process to be set at the building are specified. The students are organized in groups and have to work in a project to develop a competitive solution to this real necessity within deadline. Finally, a survey is conducted to evaluate both the impact of this experience in the learning process and the students’ degree of satisfaction with respect to this technique. The results of the survey show that PBL promotes the technical training of the students in this field and encourages the development of transversal skills, enhancing, at the same time, their motivation.

Author(s):  
Tanju Deveci ◽  
Roger Nunn

Engineering is a discipline that requires its practitioners to learn and use a variety of soft-skills, which include academic and non-academic written and spoken communication, inter- and intrapersonal communication skills, critical thinking ability, an ability to work in teams and an ability to analyze, interpret and synthesize interdisciplinary information from a variety of sources. However, students who pursue their engineering education in English as their second language can face formidable challenges acquiring these skills. It is our observation that such students are often only given assistance through English courses designed to improve their individual linguistic abilities. We believe that although this approach may help in the short term, it may not sufficiently cater for students’ overall needs and well-being in the long term. With this in mind, this paper describes our attempt to reduce this problem in our local context of the Petroleum Institute (PI) through a long term innovation effort.A project-based approach has been adopted to provide students with an opportunity to enhance their language skills through meaningful learning experiences that also develop professional, personal and academic skills. This approach has also allowed the university to meet ABET criteria related to communication needs of engineering students. In this paper, we give a detailed rationale for our belief that a holistic approach to developing abilities required by engineering and other students is a better option. This is followed by a description of the different components of our current curriculum that has been developed over 12 years. We describe particular activities, and discuss their merits. We also present students’ perceptions about the impact of their project-based learning experience on their language and skills development. We also outline the way the course is designed to be adaptable for unpredictable future needs in a fast developing professional and academic environment.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-68
Author(s):  
Galyna Vasylivna Lutsenko ◽  
◽  
Oksana Mykolaivna Podolian ◽  
Lyudmyla Mikhailivna Ozhyndovych ◽  
◽  
...  

One of the world-recognized practices of modern higher education is the application of problem-based and project-based approaches to teaching STEM-disciplines. In case of integration of problem-based and project-based learning, the educational process is organized around the problem to be solved by students and stimulates them to find optimal strategies for solving, and project activities are chosen as a way of organizing work. The article describes the ongoing experience of implementation of project-based STEM-courses "Hydro- and Gas Dynamics" and "Applied Mechanics and Fundamentals of Design", which is part of training of engineering students of 151 Automation and Computer-integrated technologies speciality at the Bohdan Khmelnytskyy National University of Cherkasy during 2017-2019 academic years. The impact of problem-based and project-based approaches to teaching STEM-disciplines on the formation of professional and general competencies of future engineers had been analyzed. The dynamics of changes of personal and interpersonal skills of junior students during the teamwork on mono- and multidisciplinary projects had been studied. The case study method was chosen as the general research method, which corresponds to the number of research participants and the active role of researchers in the educational process. The results of surveys developed using the 5-point Likert scale, demonstrates that students mostly positively evaluate the projects and teamwork. The possibility of self-grouping, which made possible to form teams based on common interests and promote freer and more natural communication within the team, was the important factor of positive perception of project work. The disadvantages of the implemented approaches include the difficulties that manifested itself at the stage of students' planning of the project process. One of the reasons for this is the lack of previous experience in the realization of students' team projects. The introduction of multidisciplinary projects made it possible to optimize the workload of students working simultaneously on a project in two disciplines and increase the motivation to study the disciplines of the STEM cycle.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-481
Author(s):  
Anne Heinze

A look at entrepreneurship education research shows that there are basically two types of entrepreneurship courses: First, courses for entrepreneurship and second, courses about entrepreneurship such as lectures, formal seminars, individual essays etc. Most of the latter courses can be characterized as teacher-centric where the student involvement is passive. From a more modern perspective and in order to train entrepreneurs trying, experimenting and learning about one's own experience is crucial. More innovative approaches, such as project-based learning, action-based learning and experiential learning, therefore, are gradually appearing on the scene In this context, within the last few years some universities have introduced training firms, mostly for students of economics and business. In Germany, due to a lack of legal possibilities training firms at public universities are still a rarity and therefore under-researched. Thus, the research question for the present contribution is how informal learning can be structured using training firms, and what effects this has on the preparation of learners for later professional practice and / or self-employment. Therefore, the methodology for this paper is first to review the literature related to entrepreneurial learning in order to better understand the informal learning experience in training firms. Second, the case of a communication design agency for students around HTW Berlin, a public university for applied sciences, is analyzed to gain insight into the impact that practice firms can have on entrepreneurship education in general, and in particular in non-business subjects. For this purpose, a case study has been developed based on interviews, which include both the perspective of the students and of the trainer. Overall, the results will show a best practice example of entrepreneurial training and learning in a university context, which can be useful for those involved in the development of course concepts for entrepreneurship education.


Author(s):  
Nazmul Islam

Most of the engineering courses focus more on theory and very little on hands-on, project-based learning in the classroom. Integration of real-world engineering problems and applications in lower division engineering courses will produce engineering students, who will be technically sound and be able to execute and manage real-world projects, when they will do senior design projects in their final year of engineering study. To overcome the engineering design challenges we have developed iHOP (Ingenieŕia Hands on Project) and integrate it with our lower division engineering courses. iHOP has been developed to emphasis the design component at the University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) Engineering Physics curriculum and the project is now an integral part of Introduction to Engineering class. The iHOP project is one that is challenging, fun, requires teamwork, associated with the engineering material being studied, low cost, and doable in a limited amount of time. The experience from iHOP project motivates our freshman students to choose a better senior design project in senior year of their college career. The objectives of the iHOP projects are — to have students develop teamwork skills, and to teach students basic engineering design concepts in a complementary format to the traditional lecture. Various techniques related to team selection, encouraging teamwork, incorporation of engineering topics, keeping costs down, project results presentations, and gathering feedback from students will also be presented in this paper. Integrating iHOP Project with Introduction to Engineering class helped us to improve our retention effort in the engineering department.


Author(s):  
Nickey Janse van Rensburg ◽  
Z. Simpson ◽  
N. Malan

This research describes a pilot project which aimed to introduce CDIO-type (Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate), project-based learning through a community-based project in a third year Material Science module. The project formed part of an agriculture research initiative, and relied on interdisciplinary research collaboration between engineering, social sciences, management, entrepreneurship, and industrial arts. The initiative seeks to develop an agribusiness solution that will create an open-market, growth-oriented food economy. As part of the initiative, engineering students, participating in teams, worked alongside a community of urban farmers, most of whom are working poor, so as to develop appropriate, intermediate technology/ies that could support the farmers. This was informed by the need to have students demonstrate high level understanding of disciplinary content, but also to engage in human-centered design thinking and practice.


Author(s):  
I. Ibrahim ◽  
M. W. B. Khalid ◽  
G. Shoukat ◽  
M. Sajid

This paper discusses the results of a study regarding the impact of using Project-Based Learning (PBL) to enhance the understanding of the concepts related to Pipe Network Analysis, a subtopic of Fluid Mechanics, studied by students enrolled in a mechanical engineering degree. It has been frequently reported by students and professors alike, that a lecture-only approach is not effective in terms of helping students grasp the fundamentals of a subject, nor does it help students in actual problem solving where different variables have to be catered to, which may have been ignored in a conventional lecture. Therefore, in this study, a more open-ended, complex project-based approach was used in addition to the lectures on the subject of Pipe Network Analysis. The project required students to design a pipe network for a scaled setup based on specified fluid flow and pressure head requirements at different nodes. An experimental setup that implemented these pipe networks was also developed in order to validate the theoretical results. The students’ grades and their documented responses were used as the criterion for compiling and analyzing the results. We also describe how we incorporated PBL into the classrooms in order to improve the learning experience, and evaluate the efficacy of the proposed method. The overall results show that the students were proactively engaged in the PBL activity, linking their knowledge to the real world, which ultimately led to improved concept development.


Author(s):  
Mohamed Galaleldin ◽  
Justine Boudreau ◽  
Hanan Anis

Engineering design courses often include a team-based project. Project-based learning offers a great opportunity for engineering students to learn about teamwork and collaboration. It also gives students a chance to learn about themselves and improve their conflict management skills. Choosing the right team members for a specific project is not trivial, as the choice of the team often affects the project outcome and the students’ experience in the course. Moreover, there is a debate among engineering educators as to whether it is better to force team composition or not. In this paper, we investigate the impact of team composition and formation on project outcomes and student satisfaction in a second-year engineering design course at the University of Ottawa. The course is open to all engineering students and has an accessibility theme. Students work in teams with a client that has a specific accessibility need. Students meet the client three times during the semester and deliver a physical prototype by the end of the semester. For this study, students in the design course were divided into two groups. Students in the first group were allowed to pick their teams, while the instructor created the teams in the second group based on multidisciplinary composition and year of study. Both groups had the same instructor and the same course material, labs, project choices, etc. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a few teams in each group.


JURNAL ELINK ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 48
Author(s):  
Riryn Fatmawaty ◽  
Sofi Nurhidayatus Sholihah

This study aimed to determine the impact of the application of socrative to the reading ability of students in industrial 4.0 era, where anything was done using the internet and computers. The method used in this study was the pre-experimental type One Group Pretest-Posttest. This method used a class that was used as the object of research. This research was conducted at SMK 1 Baureno located on Jl. Raya Kepohbaru Department No. 258, Baureno, Plumbungan, Bojonegoro. The object of this research was the 10th grade computer and network engineering students at SMK 1 Baureno. The number of students was 34 consisting of 17 male students and 17 female students. This research was conducted on February 5 through March 11, academic year 2019/2020. There were three activities carried out, namely pretest, treatment and posttest. The hypothesis accepted in this study was the alternative hypothesis (Ha). Because the results of this study indicated that the t-test of 34 students was 17,07 with a significant level of t-table 0,05. This mean that there were differences in the ability of students before and after treatment was given. And from the results of questionnaires that had been done that 10th grade students of computer and network technique at SMK 1 Baureno prefered to read online (using socrative) rather than reading offline. Keywords: Reading, socrative


Author(s):  
Mohamed Galaleldin ◽  
Francois Bouchard ◽  
Hanan Anis ◽  
Claude Lague

Makerspaces are gaining more ground in universities and other educational institutions as a novel approach to boost creativity, innovation, and provide more opportunities for experiential and hands-on learning experience. Albeit being multidisciplinary, and open spaces in nature,Makerspaces still lack integration to the curricula of engineering schools. With increasingly competitive markets, there is a need to educate future engineers with necessary skills to be more creative and to be able to compete in today’s global market. A twophase study was developed to study the integration of the Makerspace concept in engineering schools. The first phase was based on interviews with five North American University Makerspaces that vary in size, objective, business model, and management structure to identify best Makerspace practices in preparationof the establishment of the University of Ottawa’s Richard L’Abbé Makerspace. The second phase was a survey administered to engineering students who have used the Richard L’Abbé Makerspace since its opening in the fall of 2014 to assess its impact on their engineering competencies, in particular design skills, problem analysis, communication and teamwork skills, investigation skills, and entrepreneurial skills. This paper aims at studying best practices of Makerspaces on campus and their impacts onengineering education and on the development ofdesired skills and competencies for engineering students.


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