As more entrepreneurial experiences are integrated into engineering programs, students are faced with new challenges they need help in managing. While previous research has identified entrepreneurial activities that engineering students struggle with, the antecedents of these difficulties have not been directly investigated. Drawing on an…

Group projects are expected in contemporary engineering curricula, and yet they often pose a challenge to students and instructors alike. Could making projects personally relevant help? The present study created and tested a conceptual framework regarding the impact of personal relevance on groupwork in a project-based learning (PBL) course. We…

Problem-based learning is an active student-centred approach, which requires engineering students to work together in solving real-world problems. This study aims to review the incorporation of cooperative learning principles in an introductory first-year engineering course that aimed to develop students' group skills while working on…

Engineering education has seen a growing interest in how students regulate their learning as a group in interdisciplinary projects. This study adds to the current literature on social regulation of learning by conducting a comparative case study of three interdisciplinary group projects addressing real-world challenges. Semi-structured qualitative…

Professional skills of project planning, risk analysis, ethical design, communication, and working in interprofessional teams are now recognised as core engineering skills. Frequently, they are addressed in engineering education through team projects. However, these skills can be difficult for students to learn as they are often not well defined…

This study explores how project-based learning in combination with other pedagogical scaffolding approaches influences students' experiences during their transition into the university. Based on the thematic analysis of interviews with students at the end of the first semester, we show how a project-based course in electronics can create…

A "Study and Research Path" (SRP) is a model, based on the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic (ATD), which describes the inquiry processes that take place when a new, generating question (Q[subscript 0]) is considered. The investigation of the question through different study and inquiry approaches leads to a rooted tree sequence of…

In today's industry, employers are looking for civil engineering graduates who have acquired not only substantial technical and scientific knowledge, but who also have good life-long learning skills such as problem-solving, creativity and communication skills. Therefore, it is necessary to leave behind the pedagogical approaches exclusively…

The aim of this paper is to describe the design of chemical engineering laboratory sessions in order to focus them on the learning company approach. This is an activity carried out in the classroom similar to the activities that exist in real companies. This could lead classroom practice to a more cooperative learning and a different style of…

The project-oriented and Agile approaches have motivated a new generation of software engineers. Within the academic curriculum, the issue of whether students are being sufficiently prepared for the future has been raised. The objective of this work is to present the project-oriented environment as an influential factor that software engineering…

Teaching of manufacturing courses for undergraduate engineering students has become a challenge due to industrial globalisation coupled with influx of new innovations, technologies, customer-driven products. This paper discusses development of a modern manufacturing course taught concurrently in three institutions where students collaborate in…

Since 2007/2008 project-based learning models have been used to deliver two fundamental courses on Geotechnics in University of Aveiro, Portugal. These models have evolved and have encompassed either cooperative or collaborative teamwork. Using data collected in five editions of each course (Soil Mechanics I and Soil Mechanics II), the different…

This paper compares two models for reforming engineering education, problem/project-based learning (PBL), and conceive-design-implement-operate (CDIO), identifying and explaining similarities and differences. PBL and CDIO are defined and contrasted in terms of their history, community, definitions, curriculum design, relation to disciplines,…

In the academic year 2010-2011, Spain finished the process of introducing the regulatory changes derived from the Bologna Declaration and the new European Space for Higher Education (ESHE). These changes have implied the updating of university degrees' structure as well as the inclusion of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). This paper…

Cooperative learning may improve students' motivation, understanding of course concepts, and academic performance. This study therefore enhanced a cooperative, group-project learning technique with technology resources to determine whether doing so improved students' deep learning and performance. A sample of 118 engineering students, randomly…