Impact of interdisciplinary learning on the development of engineering students’ skills

ABSTRACT

This paper intends to present an interdisciplinary project carried out in a School of Engineering, and to refer to its effects in the development of students’ skills. This project’s main goal was to present students with an intellectually demanding challenge which implied overcoming the disciplinary barriers thus integrating knowledge to solve the problems they were challenged with. After the project had been concluded, a study was carried out using a qualitative methodology by conducting two focus groups (n = 16). The main goal of this procedure was to get a better perception of (1) how students understood the project; (2) what kind of skills students considered to have developed throughout the project, and (3) the importance they have attributed to this kind of project. The results demonstrate that students are aware of the relevance of the project not only for their education process but also for the development of their skills. The results of the study also reveal that the students involved in the project have been capable of identifying the specific skills that the project work had intended to address and develop.

KEYWORDS:

• Interdisciplinary teaching
• higher education
• engineering education
• soft skills

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Alexandra R. Costa received Post-doctorate in Educational Psychology from the University of Minho; PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Cadiz, MBA in Management held at the Porto Business School, and a degree in Psychology held at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Porto. Currently, fulfillls the role of Adjunct Professor at ISEP. Alexandra has been teaching in higher education since 1998. Her current research interests are in the areas of academic adaptation, learning methods, academic success, and resource recovery.

Mafalda Ferreira received PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Cádiz. Degree and Master Degree in Psychology held at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Porto. Mafalda has been teaching in higher education since 1998, Trainer and consultant in the field of People Management, Organizational Behavior and Consumer Behavior.

Ana Margarida Barata received PhD in Communication Sciences, from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities in Lisbon New University, Ana has lectured language and communication-related course units in higher education since 2001. At present she is Adjunct Professor at ISEP, and is in charge of the working methods, language skills, and communication modules in Project course units. Researcher at GILT-Games, Interaction and Learning Technologies I&D center, besides learning and knowledge acquisition strategies, her main research interests are digital arts, with special emphasis to the role arts and culture play in social empowerment, and in education.

Conceição Viterbo received PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Cádiz. Degree in Psychology held at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Porto. At present she is Adjunct Professor at ISEP. Trainer and consultant in the field of Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior.

José Salgado Rodrigues received PhD in Work Sciences from the University of Cádiz. MSc and MBA in Management held at the Porto Business School, University of Porto. José has been teaching in higher education since 1993, and consultant in the field of general management. His current research interests are in the areas of learning methods, academic success, national culture and project management.

José Magalhães received PhD in Educational Sciences, specialization in Mathematics Education, from the University of Minho, MSc in Electrical Power Systems Engineering held at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, and a degree in Electrical Engineering held at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto. At present, he is Adjunct Professor at ISEP. José has been teaching in higher education since 1989. His current research interests are in the areas of mathematics education, math learning methodologies based on technology and project-based learning.