Teacher's experiences in PBL: implications for practice

Abstract

Project-Based Learning (PBL) has been implemented in the first year of the Industrial Engineering and Management programme at the University of Minho, Portugal, since 2004/2005. The purpose of this paper is to analyse and discuss teachers' experiences in PBL in this programme and to explore its implications for student learning and for teaching practices in higher education. For data collection, the research method used was written narratives to these teachers, at the end of the PBL semester. Findings suggest that teachers express a positive view of PBL as a learning approach. They identify student motivation and engagement, along with a better understanding of the application of concepts in real-life situations, as important outcomes of the project for students. Besides this, teachers also highlight the importance of the development of transversal skills by students throughout the project. Recommendations for future work and implications for practice will also be discussed.

Keywords:

• project-based learning
• engineering education
• teachers' perceptions
• industrial engineering and management education
• student engagement

ORCID

Anabela C. Alves http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2926-4187

About the authors

Anabela C. Alves is Assistant Professor at the Department of Production and Systems/School of Engineering/University of Minho. She holds a PhD in Production and Systems Engineering, being affiliated to ALGORITMI Research Centre. Her main research interests are in the areas of Production Systems Design and Operation; Lean Manufacturing; Project Management and Engineering Education, with particular interest in active learning methodologies such as Project-Based Learning (PBL) and the Lean principles applied to education. She is author/co-author of more than 60 publications conferences research publications and journal articles and several book chapters. She is permanent member of the Scientific and Organizing Committee of the International Symposium on Project Approaches in Engineering Education (PAEE).

Rui M. Sousa is Assistant Professor at the Department of Production and Systems/School of Engineering/University of Minho. He holds a degree in Electrical Engineering, an MSc in Systems and Automation and a PhD in Production and Systems Engineering. His main research interests are: lean manufacturing; formal approaches for production systems analysis/design and engineering education. He is author/coauthor of more than 50 publications in international journals and conferences.

Sandra Fernandes is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Coimbra, Portugal. She received her PhD on Education Sciences at the University of Minho, with the thesis entitled `Project-based learning in Higher Education: A case study in Engineering Education'. She has more than 50 publications, including 8 articles in international peer-reviewed journals, 8 book chapters, 25 papers published in international peer-reviewed conference proceedings, and over 20 communications in national and international conferences. She also has a strong experience in the organization and leadership of international scientific events, being member of the organizing committee of more than 11 international conferences carried out in Portugal and abroad. She is part of the research team of some international projects and associations, being one of the founding members of the Association for Project Approaches in Engineering Education (PAEE). Since 2013, she is also an External Integrated Member of the Research Centre on Child Studies (CIEC), at the University of Minho.

Elisabete Cardoso is a teacher of programming languages in the Department of Information Systems at the School of Engineering in University of Minho. She has over 15 years of experience teaching university programming courses in Basic Programming Languages, Object-Oriented Programming and Web Programming Applications. She is a Computer Systems Engineer, and received a Master degree in Information Systems from University of Minho, in 2009. Nowadays, she is a PhD student in Technology and Information Systems at University of Minho. Her research interests include teaching/learning and information technologies. She has a particular interest in exploring how information technologies are being used in higher education, and she usually integrates and evaluates the use of learning technology in their teaching. Furthermore she enjoys working in an interdisciplinary team.

Maria Alice Carvalho is an assistant professor in Chemistry Department of Science School, at University of Minho. She holds a Degree in Physics and Chemistry Education and a PhD in Science from University of Minho. Her research interests are focused on the design and synthesis of new heterocyclic compounds with activity as antioxidant, antipsychotic, antifungal, anticancer and anti Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The design of the new molecules is inspired in natural products, target based-design or ligand based-design.

Jorge Figueiredo, born 1966, has a Bachelor degree in Physics/Applied Mathematics (Porto University., 1988) and an MSc in Astrophysics and Spatial Techniques (Paris University, 1989). He got his PhD in Applied Mathematical Sciences form Porto University (1996), under the theme `A new numerical code to model pre-main-sequence low-mass stars'. He joined the Dep. of Mathematics and Applications of Minho University as a Junior Teaching Assistant in 1993 and became Assistant Professor in 1996. The main research interests concern PDE's with particular emphasis on deriving reduced beam models from 3D piezoelectricity and developing high-order finite volume schemes for the shallow-water equations.

Rui M.S. Pereira is an assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Applications at the University of Minho in Portugal. He has a PhD degree in mathematical sciences from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. He has publications in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics, Europhysics Letters, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering.