期刊名称:Proceedings of the Canadian Engineering Education Association
出版年度:2020
页码:1-7
DOI:10.24908/pceea.vi0.14128
出版社:The Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA)
摘要:Students in the 4th year laboratory course in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (CHBE) at UBC perform multi-week problem-based laboratories (PBL). Open-ended industrially-relevant problem statements are provided as context, but teams are not bound by them and can choose alternative problems according to their interests. Operating instructions for equipment are provided, but students must develop their own experimental designs and data collection and analysis protocols. TA involvement is greatly reduced compared to previous courses to promote independence and self-reliance. In previous work, students indicated that this approach helped them develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and increased their confidence in their engineering abilities. Anecdotal evidence and an analysis of the survey data in that study suggest that one possible reason for the benefits outlined above stem from students’ imposed self-reliance and ownership of their work, coupled with a freedom to experiment with no consequences for failure. To explore this question, a questionnaire was sent to the current cohort of students, asking them to qualify their enjoyment of the course (level of enjoyment, workload, perceived relevance), the effectiveness of the course (perceived knowledge and skill development), as well as their perceived level of agency in the course (perceived freedom and autonomy regarding content and research direction). Students were then invited to a focus group to further elaborate on the course and reflect on their overall experience during the undergraduate studies, whether they felt they had agency or ownership during their studies, and whether they believe problem-based learning should be implemented in other courses earlier on in the program. Responses were thematically analyzed, and are presented in this paper.
关键词:Problem-based Learning;Agency;Motivation;Engineering Skill Development