Journal of Engineering Education Transformations

Journal of Engineering Education Transformations

Year: 2015, Volume: 28, Issue: Special Issue, Pages: 318-321

Original Article

Integrating Research Experience in Project Based Learning

Abstract

A lot of emphasis is being placed on the research experience at undergraduate level both by institutions of higher learning as well as industries focusing on research&development (R&D). This requires a twofold effort. First is to develop research competency in teaching faculty so that they can act like mentors and second is to develop a process so that the students develop basic research skills through practice. Parallels can be drawn between the Engineering Design (ED) process and research skill building process in terms of creativity and problem solving. Similar to the ED process, a converging and diverging process can be used to creative problem research. This process has been introduced as part of a course project at the third year level for the course Programming Industrial Automation Systems. This paper tries to demonstrate the process through which a structured literature survey is carried out by the students leading to a variety of research problems. This process is carried out as a team activity. Research assignments have been integrated in the course, which requires students to find information on automation related topic using both print and electronic resources available at the college library and on the Internet. Aiming to foster the development of technical information literacy and communication skills, the students are required to prepare a report based on a specific set of guidelines, followed by implementation of the solution and oral presentations of the topics researched. A lecture on the subject of identifying and using information resources is included in the syllabus. Preliminary results of the study are presented along with directions for designing and implementing an enriched curriculum for Automation course.

References

  • Jules Woolf, University of Windsor "Integrating Research Skills Training into Non-Research Methods Courses".
  • Donald R. Woods, Richard M. Felder Armando Rugarcia James E. Stice " The future of engineering education III. "Developing critical skills" Chem. Engr. Education, 34(2), 108-117 (2000).
  • Quarton, Barbara " Research skills and the new undergraduate" Journal of Instructional Psychology; Jun 2003; 30, 2; ProQuest Education Journals, pg. 120.
  • Isabel Hart, Nikos J. Mourtos, Nilza Costa, Osvaldo Pacheco, Jose Tavares, "Models for research-based teaching in engineering courses: a case-study at the University of Aveiro (PT) and San Jose State University (USA)", International Conference on Engineering Education - ICEE 2007.
  • "Designing Effective Projects: Characteristics of Projects, Benefits of Project-Based Learning," Intel Teach Program Copyright 2007, Intel Corporation.

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