Implementation and Assessment of Project-Based Learning in a Flexible Environment

Project-based learning (PBL) is a well-known method for imparting thinking competencies and creating flexible learning environments. Advancing low-achieving pupils is an on-going challenge for educational systems. Routing low-achievers into low-learning tracks creates a vicious circle. In order to extract pupils and their teachers from the on-going cycle of failure, and to promote pupils cognitively and emotionally, four steps were taken: defining significant goals for the pupils as well as for the teachers, changing the learning environment, carrying out original projects taking advantage of the pupils' special skills and abilities, and changing assessment methods for project-based learning activities in a computerized environment. This paper presents a continuous field research that has used qualitative and quantitative tools for exploring pupils' progress in the affective and the cognitive domains. The research tools were: Analysis of pupils' portfolios, observations of class activities, interviews with pupils, teachers and school management, achievements in the matriculation examinations, and assessment of pupils' projects. The findings indicate that scientific-technological PBL elevated pupils' motivation and self-image at all levels and achieved significant affective learning. The activities over three years are summarized and show an increase in the number of students achieving the college admittance requirements. Most of the low-achieving pupils succeeded with distinction in the same matriculation exams that the high-achievers did in the same school. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The impact of problem-based learning strategies on STEM knowledge integration and attitudes: an exploratory study among female Taiwanese senior high school students

This study was designed to explore the effects of problem-based learning (PBL) strategies on the attitudes of female senior high school students toward integrated knowledge learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Content analysis and focus group methods were adopted as the research processes. Data and information about the STEM internet platform, an attitude scale and the contents of interviews were also collected for analysis. The subjects were 10th grade students at a girls’ senior high school who volunteered to organize teams for a Solar Electric Trolley Contest. A total of 40 students were grouped into 18 teams. The results of the study indicate: (1) that PBL strategies can be helpful in enhancing students’ attitudes toward STEM learning and the exploration of future career choices; (2) that the PBL teaching strategy helped to lead students step by step toward completing the contest’s mission and to experience the meaning of integrated STEM knowledge; (3) that not only that students can actively apply engineering and science knowledge, but also that students tend to gain more solid science and mathematics knowledge through STEM learning in PBL; and (4) that PBL can enhance students’ abilities and provide them experiences related to knowledge integration and application. Therefore, it is recommended that the curriculum at the girls’ senior high school include more content related to specialty subjects to enhance their technological capabilities. In addition, a learning mechanism should be offered to aid advisers or teachers in strengthening students’ integrated and systematic knowledge about STEM.     

Integrated Market-Immersion Approach To Teaching New Product Development In Technologically-Oriented Teams

This article presents a market immersion methodology for teaching NPD in technologically-oriented teams. This methodology was developed during the early 1990s at the Lally School of Management and Technology of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Since then, it has been successfully utilized to train in excess of one hundred MBA-level student teams. The NPD course is taught by a 5-member cross-functional team of faculty with backgrounds in marketing, manufacturing operations, and accounting. The course is modeled on Cooper's stage gate process, and the course is designed to provide a combination of classroom and apprenticeship experiences. The 6-credit, year-long course requires students to work in self-directed teams of approximately 5 to 6 members. Each student team chooses its own industry or technology domain in which to concentrate its efforts, and students undertake intensive market and field research in order to assess any existing market opportunities. Once a specific target market and market need have been identified, students are then required to design a product and an organization to meet that need. In specific, students must produce a detailed marketing, manufacturing, operations, advertising, distribution, and financial plan that can bring their product to market. During the process, students create multiple potential product designs, build mock-ups of their products, and field test the mock-ups. At every phase of the course, the teams are continuously immersed in real customer markets. As a result, teams must struggle to incorporate new market information and learning into their project in a consistent and holistic manner. The following article presents the curriculum content and tools, lessons learned, and student reactions to this original pedagogical approach to teaching NPD. Due to the length of the course, particular attention is paid to the teaming issues that naturally arise when teams work together on long-run projects. © 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.     

PBL教学法在工科研究生创新教育中的应用研究

为了培养学生的创新能力,将PBL（基于问题的学习）法应用于制浆造纸工程专业（含印刷技术方向）研究生的理论课教学和毕业论文阶段的指导。实践表明,实施该方法有利干推动研究生教学改革,促进教师转变教育观念,不断改进教学方法,提高业务水平;同时,有助于从根本上促进学生改变学习和研究方式,培养独立思维能力和强烈的创新意识,有利于研究生进行创造性研究,促进创新型人才脱颖而出。     

An exploratory study on the perspectives of prospective computer teachers following project-based learning

This study investigates perceptions of 29 prospective teachers about a course based on Project-Based Learning (PBL) approach. The course, ‘Authoring Languages in PC Environment (B-320)’ lasted in 14 weeks in fall semester of 2004–2005. In this course each prospective teacher carried out a project that requires designing and developing courseware individually. This study is qualitative in nature and data were collected through an open ended questionnaire composed of seven items and analyzed by content analysis technique. The results show that prospective teachers found PBL as an effective way of learning. It also suggests that when efficient guidance about technical issues and time management is provided, PBL approach can be successfully implemented in computer related courses such as programming language and web designing.     

Enhanced and conventional project-based learning in an engineering design module

Engineering education focuses chiefly on students’ ability to solve problems. While most engineering students are proficient in solving paper questions, they may not be proficient at providing optimal solutions to pragmatic project-based problems that require systematic learning strategy, innovation, problem-solving, and execution. The present study aims to determine whether an enhanced Project-based learning (PBL) with appropriate innovative interventions leads to increased students’ ability to achieve better learning and project outcomes. The interventions refer to incorporating added learning and facilitating methods, namely, (1) use of mind-maps; (2) employment of analogies; and (3) use of round-table discussions. The study was conducted with a total number of 60 first-time PBL students equally divided into two classes with one serving as an experimental class and another as a control class. In addition, one class of students had a lower academic standing compared to the other (control). The rubric for the project-based module included a written knowledge test and a scenario-based oral examination to test knowledge and problem-solving skills, a artefact demonstration to evaluate artefact’s performance. A major finding of this study was that there were significant differences in knowledge scores, problem-solving ability and artefact performance between students undergoing conventional and enhanced PBL methods. It could also be inferred from this study that students who had undergone enhanced PBL method designed better systems and had better performing artefacts than those who were subjected to the conventional PBL approach. Finally, it was concluded that incorporating enhanced learning and facilitating methods to group-centric, project-based driven education provided a more fertile environment to promote better learning experience and improved problem-solving ability which could eventually lead to developing innovative and pragmatic solutions to real-world engineering problems.     

Student response to an Internet-mediated industrial design studio course

The purpose of this study is to investigate student attitudes towards and perceptions of using the Internet and information technology to mediate a design studio course and to propose guidelines and suggestions for developing Internet-mediated design studio courses. Two classes of third-year undergraduate industrial design students in two collaborating universities in Taiwan—Chang Gung University and National Yunlin University of Science and Technology—participated in an experimental design studio course mediated with an online design learning environment. Surveys and focus group interviews were conducted at the end of the course to record students’ attitudes and perceptions. The students thought that the approach used had a positive influence on design teaching and learning and expressed acceptance of using the Internet to support design education. Finally, suggestions were proposed to help design educators in adopting, modifying, and developing systems for using the Internet to mediate design studio courses.     

Organizational variables, sales force perceptions of readiness for change, learning, and performance among boundary-spanning teams: A conceptual framework and propositions for research

Sales organizations are continuously developing new ideas and approaches to be more competitive. One of the approaches taken by most successful organizations is the move from individuals to boundary-spanning, cross-functional teams. Sales teams are being employed to counter efforts by buying organizations to form buying centers. It is proffered in this paper that organizations that are ready for change are conducive to enhancement of sales team learning. Organization readiness for change is a condition impacted by a variety of organizational antecedent variables such as culture and climate. This paper proposes that sales team learning is impacted by team members' perceptions of the organization's readiness for change. In addition, we also posit the moderating influence of two environmental variables: turbulence and competitive intensity on the relationship between readiness for change and sales team learning. Sales team learning is then proposed to be related to a variety of sales outcomes. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework for understanding the contexts in which team learning occurs and the impact of team learning on team effectiveness. Throughout the paper, we present research propositions that provide opportunities for future examinations of team learning.     

Evaluation/Modification Cycles in Junior High Students' Technological Problem Solving

Technological problem-solving knowledge and skills have become primary components of almost any curricular endeavor in technology education for the last decades. However, our understanding of the way students approach such tasks and generate solutions is still incomplete. The main goal of this study was to trace closely Grade 7 students' work while engaged in design tasks within an unstructured learning environment. We report on a specific fragment of the process, namely on the evaluation/modification cycles which the students went through after completing the construction of the first version of a solution. The study focused on: (a) identifying the conceptual constituents of these cycles; (b) the students' decisions with reference to the original design goals in the course of these cycles; and (c) the formulation of a general reflection/decision/action model characterizing these cycles. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Spatial ability learning through educational robotics

Several authors insist on the importance of students’ acquisition of spatial abilities and visualization in order to have academic success in areas such as science, technology or engineering. This paper proposes to discuss and analyse the use of educational robotics to develop spatial abilities in 12 year old students. First of all, a course to introduce robotics to 6th grade primary school students was designed. The key intention was to prepare practical and motivating sessions in order to foster the students’ involvement in hands-on learning. Hence, during the sessions of the course, challenges were provided for the students, in order to develop their capabilities as proficient problem solvers. The teacher assisted and guided the students, and the students were encouraged to solve the problems by themselves, working in 3-members teams. The main goal of this paper is to discuss and analyse the potential usefulness of educational robotics to develop spatial abilities. To carry out the analysis, students were randomly divided into an experimental group (EG), which participated in the robotics course, and a control group (CG), which did not take part in the robotics course. The extensive existing literature for spatial ability evaluation was analysed and reviewed and a pre-test and a post-test were prepared for use in the research study. Initially, the spatial ability of both EG and CG students was assessed with the pre-test. Then, after finishing the robotics course, the same sets of students were tested with the post-test. An extensive analysis of the results is provided in the paper. Results show that the positive change in spatial ability of the participants in the robotics course (EG) was greater than change evident in the students who did not join the course (CG). The improvement was statistically significant. The results also show that the overall performance of the students depends on the instruments used to evaluate their spatial abilities. Hence, this study manifests clearly the importance of the selection of those instruments.     

Robotics and STEM learning: students’ achievements in assignments according to the P3 Task Taxonomy—practice,problem solving,and projects

This study presents the case of development and evaluation of a STEM-oriented 30-h robotics course for junior high school students (n = 32). Class activities were designed according to the P3 Task Taxonomy, which included: (1) practice—basic closed-ended tasks and exercises; (2) problem solving—small-scale open-ended assignments in which the learner can choose the solution method or arrive at different answers; and (3) project-based learning—open-ended challenging tasks. The research aimed at exploring students’ working patterns, achievements in learning the course, and the impact of this experience on students’ motivation to learn STEM subjects. Evaluation tools included a final exam on factual, procedural and conceptual knowledge in the STEM subject learned in the course, class observations, interviews with the students, and administrating an attitude questionnaire before and after the course. Since the experimental class was quite heterogenic in regard to students’ prior learning achievements and motivation to learn, some of the students completed just the basic exercises, others coped well with the problem-solving tasks, and only a few took it upon themselves to carry out a complex project. However, all students showed high motivation to learn robotics and STEM subjects. In summary, robotics provides a very rich and attractive learning environment for STEM education. Yet, the realization of this potential depends largely on careful design of the course methodology and especially the students’ assignments in the class. One should recognize that often only some students are capable of learning a new subject on their own through project work, and these students also need to gain additional knowledge and skills before dealing with complex projects.     

Experiential Education In New Product Design And Business Development

We describe an experiential approach to teaching new product design and business development in a year‐long course that combines intensive project work with classroom education. Our course puts together up to six teams of graduate students from management and engineering who work on projects sponsored by individual companies. Student teams work with faculty from multiple disciplines and personnel from the sponsoring companies. The year‐long format and involvement with company personnel provide opportunities for students to gain hands‐on experience in a real product development project. Time constraints, coupled with students' determination to demonstrate what they can accomplish, stimulate teams to learn how to compress the design and development cycle. To help students generalize from their own projects to a wider universe of product design and business development phenomena, students participate continuously in constructive critiques of others' projects; and in presentations, case discussions and workshops that help them learn about the product and business development process itself. This article describes course objectives, syllabus, projects, sponsors, faculty, students and our course administration. In an effort to move towards a “paperless” course, we have put as much of the course material as possible on the World Wide Web; relevant websites are referred to in the article. At the end of the course each team presents a prototype and a protoplan to the sponsoring company in a final report, which in many cases includes suggestions for the sponsor on how to improve its design and development process. Students' positive evaluations, along with their comments, indicate that they are attaining their educational goals. Course projects have resulted in commercialized products, patents, continuing development projects in sponsoring companies, and placements for students. The course has generated public relations value for the units involved and for the university as a whole. © 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.     

Characteristics of learning computer-controlled mechanisms by teachers and students in a common laboratory environment

Growing popularity of robotics education motivates developing its didactics and studying it in teacher training programs. This paper presents a study conducted in the Department of Education in Technology and Science, Technion, in which university students and school pupils cope with robotics challenges of designing, building and operating computer-controlled mechanisms. The university students were involved in developing robot prototypes and related instructional materials, and assisted in teaching robotics and guiding projects to middle school and high school pupils. The study focused on behaviors of the two groups of learners and aimed to elicit and analyze typical characteristics of learning in the developed robotics environment. We collected qualitative data on learning through robot design and experimentation activities and, by means of the ground theory method, elicited and analyzed typical behavioral characteristics of students’ and pupils’ learning: self-confidence, help, collaboration, interest, seriousness, self-dependence, learning effort, responsibility, coping with learning pressure, learning through observation, and perseverance. As found, the behavior characteristics evolve in the course of robotics studies and their evolution can give indication on the development of the desired competences.     

Probing intentions of design and technology students

The paper describes aspects of a larger study that explored what did happen as opposed to what should have happened for eight students on a BA Design and Technology course in a college of higher education. To seek the actual rather than the desired, an ethnographic methodology was used to minimise the influence of any prescribed view of design and technology. The data source was interviews, conducted with students over the four years of their course. Two analytical ‘tools’ emerged during the study and certain facets of the process of analysis are illustrated in the paper through one respondent's use of one of the tools. The outcome of this analysis exemplifies a central outcome of the study, that respondents experience tension between the intention of making change to the made-world through designing and the intention of making change to themselves through learning. The paper concludes with a critical examination of the methodology and examines this conflict of learners' intentions in the design and technology education literature. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Recent Research in Learning Technological Concepts and Processes

This paper examines recent research in student learning of technological concepts and processes. To explore this area three inter-related aspects are considered; existing concepts of technology, technological knowledge and processes. Different views of technology and technology education are reflected in both research outcomes and curriculum documents. Teacher and student perceptions of technology impact on the way in which technology is undertaken in the classroom. Teacher's perceptions of technology influence what they perceive as being important in learning of technology. student's perceptions of technology and technology education influence what knowledge and skills they operationalise in a technological task and hence affect student technological capability. Technological concepts and processes are often defined in different ways by particular groups. Subject subcultures are strongly held by both teachers and students. The influence of subject subcultures and communities of practice will be discussed in terms of defining and operationalising technological concepts and processes. Technological concepts are not consistently defined in the literature. For students to undertake technological activities, knowledge and processes cannot be divorced. Recent research highlights the problems when processes are emphasised over knowledge. This paper will examine different technological concepts in an attempt to create a critical balance between knowledge and process. Much of the literature in technology education has rightly emphasised definitions, curriculum issues, implementation and teacher training. This paper argues that it is now time to place a great emphasis on in-depth research on student understanding of technological concepts and processes and ways in which these can be enhanced.     

The dynamics of multicultural NPD teams in virtual environments

Changes in the business environment, responses of companies to these changes and the available information and communication technologies (ICT) pose a number of challenges to present and future product developers, as well as to educational institutions. An appropriate response to these challenges is to create a solid basis for strategies to combat stronger competition, since existing educational programs have provided this only to a small extent. Several European universities provided this basis with the development of an international design course European Global Product Realization (EGPR). The main objective of the EGPR course is to provide a stimulating working environment for students, where they can conquer the design competences needed for their future professional practice. The main focus is put on multidisciplinary, multinational and multicultural teams, using virtual technological developments in solving a new product development (NPD) problem at a global level. This paper studies how the growth of the course internationally affects the design process carried out. A survey was carried out among the students of the past four courses and the analysis shows that the cultural background of the students has significant effect on their perception of the courses’ processes. This is a novel challenge that the developers of the course need to face in order to provide the highest level of knowledge possible to the students.     

The senior high school students’ learning behavioral model of STEM in PBL

The purpose of the study was to explore a learning behavioral model of project-based learning (PBL) for senior high school students in the context of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Using “audio speakers” as the project theme, a series of tasks were designed to be solved using STEM knowledge via an online platform and student group discussions. A total of 84 volunteer students from a senior high school and a vocational school in Pingtung, Taiwan, were divided into 21 groups. Text analysis and questionnaire survey were administered. Data sources were the participants’ information collected via the STEM online platform and the questionnaire survey regarding STEM in PBL. The findings of the study are as follows: (1) the learning behavioral model for STEM in PBL showed a positive influence on students’ behavior in the form of cognition and behavioral intentions. In addition, cognition and behavioral intentions were positively influenced by attitude. The overall model fit was positive and could effectively explain senior high school and vocational school students’ learning behavior as related to STEM in PBL; (2) according to the results of the analysis of STEM from the online platform, students displayed a positive attitude, attained integrated conceptual and procedural knowledge, and demonstrated active behavioral intentions through STEM in PBL. In addition, the students’ creative and organized project outcomes revealed the effects of their behavior.     

Influence of problem-based learning strategy on enhancing student’s industrial oriented competences learned: an action research on learning weblog analysis

In order to respond to the ever-changing global economic environment, the technological and vocational education system in Taiwan needs to be dramatically reformed to the changing needs of the domestic industrial structure. Integrating practical talents with practical industrial experiences and competences can help avoid discrepancy and close the gap between vocational education and the practical demands of industries. Thus, to achieve the goals of technological and vocational education, it is necessary to incorporate instruction that meets the demands of the industrial-oriented manpower in Taiwan. In this study, the well-known problem-based learning (PBL) approach, utilized commonly in the educational area of medicine and business management, was integrated with the qualitative method of action research to explore how such a learning strategy could influence college students’ learning outcomes regarding industrial-oriented competences. The research results were induced from the empirical data collected via participatory classroom observations, and analyses of teachers’ instructional journals and semi-structural interviews. A survey with quasi-experimental design of the control group pretest and posttest was conducted by using an industrial-oriented competences scale to explore the influences of PBL on students’ learning outcomes of industrial-oriented competences. The findings are expected to shed light on the teaching and learning strategy of college students’ industrial-oriented competences and contribute to theoretical implications and future educational and industrial development of Taiwan.     

A NOTE ON THE HIERARCHY–TEAM DEBATE

This note explores the debate between proponents of organizational learning who have criticized hierarchy as an obstacle to learning and those who have defended hierarchy as indispensable for large organizations. By considering hierarchy and team as ideal-typical information systems, it is argued that both teams and hierarchies are essential for organizational learning in large organizations. Teams appear to be the key learning units which are indispensable for producing and understanding novel information, and hierarchies are indispensable for processing and storing important learning results. The trade-off between teams and hierarchy can be solved by emphasizing the idea of circularity, involving the ability to switch between teams and hierarchies as complementary information systems in the context of organizational learning.     

Science,technology and engineering: Building lifelong bridges

In response to what is envisaged as a crisis in scientific and technological literacy, various organizations and governmental agencies have put forward recommendations for enriching students' science and technology experiences in formal and informal learning environments. This paper examines one such organization — the Professional Engineers Ontario — and their Innovators in the School initiative. Through this student outreach programme, engineers, scientists and technologists volunteer their time to visit elementary and secondary level students, encouraging them to pursue science, technology and engineering careers. In particular, this research identifies issues that the Innovators (interestingly, over half are women) consider to be important for promoting a positive image of science to young people. First, the paper considers what an image of science might potentially be. Second, it addresses the question of how Innovators and other educators (teachers, policy-makers, curriculum planning teams) might promote this positive image in the classroom and school.