Abstract:

Problem and Project-based Learning (PBL) is a pedagogical approach within the scope of active teaching methodologies, which foster in learners a series of specific and cross-curricular skills and competences that imply an active role of students. In the case of PBL, the teaching-learning process is organized around a problem and an authentic project that learners must complete in an active, collaborative and interdisciplinary way, in order to efficiently acquire the corresponding knowledge and skills. On the other hand, team teaching is a teaching approach in which at least two teachers with a different area of expertise and professional background work together in the classroom or learning environment to maximize learning outcomes and results. The advantages of this latter approach have been discussed in the literature, but it has not become a widespread teaching practice, possibly due to the practical difficulties of its implementation. PBL has certain key pedagogical features, such as constructivism, a clear focus on competences and the promotion of collaborative and task-based learning, which may be ideally put in practice through a team-teaching approach. Therefore, it is assumed in this study that PBL and team-teaching can complement each other, since each one brings important nuances to the teaching and learning process. Consequently, it is coherent to integrate PBL and team-teaching, especially in certain contexts in which project work and complex cross-curricular skills must be developed, in an environment that is globalized and international, such as Engineering in higher education. Nevertheless their integrated application is not easy, so there is a need for models to help to accomplish this task. The objective of this research is to blend the PBL and team-teaching methodological approaches into a theoretical model that accounts for an integrated methodology that is especially contextualized in the university teaching of Engineering. To do this, firstly, a review of the research on PBL and team-teaching has been carried out to conceptualize and analyze their main characteristics and pedagogical components. Next, based on this model, some methodological tools are proposed, consisting of an application protocol and a checklist, with the purpose of assisting teachers in the implementation of the integrated methodology. Finally, an educational innovation project is proposed that jointly applies PBL and team-teaching in the context of teaching civil engineering by different expert teachers at the National University of Colombia.

Keywords:

Problem and Project-based Learning (PBL), team-teaching, higher education, Engineering, teaching innovation, cross-curricular skills, competence-based learning.