Enhancing Students' Problem-Solving Skills Through Progressive Integration of Project-Based Learning

摘要

To adequately prepare students for engineering practice, innovative methods of teaching, learning and assessment are required to facilitate development of adequate problem-solving skills. Emphasis should be placed on facilitating higher levels of learning and developing a systematic approach to problem solving as this helps students make the connection between theory and practice. The authors discuss the problem solving approach implemented using project based learning and case studies in two upper level undergraduate civil engineering courses at the United States Coast Guard Academy. Assessment data indicate that students gained more confidence solving engineering problems and were engaged at a higher level of learning and understanding of engineering principles. Student performance on capstone projects was noticeably improved due to the problem-solving skills developed in earlier courses.