Enhancing the engineering curriculum through project-based learning

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190 Scopus citations

Abstract

Project-based Learning (PBL) is an instructional approach that is gaining increasing interest within the engineering education community. The benefits of PBL include enhanced student participation in the learning process (active learning and self-learning), enhanced communication skills, addressing of a wider set of learning styles, and promotion of critical and proactive thinking. PBL also facilitates the development of many of the "soft skills" demanded from engineering graduates, as embodied in the ABET EC 2000. Examples include effective teaming skills, project management, communications, ethics, engineering economics, etc. At Stevens Institute of Technology the undergraduate engineering curriculum has recently undergone significant revisions to reflect the latest trend towards enhancement of traditional lecture-based courses with both a design spine and a laboratory experience propagating through the entire educational program. Project-based learning is also being integrated throughout the curriculum. An initial implementation of PBL and its preliminary assessment in a freshman-level course on Mechanics of Solids and a junior-level course on Mechanisms and Machine Dynamics is presented.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)F3F/1-F3F/6
JournalProceedings - Frontiers in Education Conference
Volume2
StatePublished - 2002
Event23nd Annual Frontiers in Education; Leading a Revolution in Engineering and Computer Science Education - Boston, MA, United States
Duration: 6 Nov 20029 Nov 2002

Keywords

  • Design projects
  • Learning methods
  • Project-based learning
  • Teaching techniques

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