THE FRESHMEN INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING EVALUATE A COURSE OF PHYSICS INCLUDING COOPERATIVE LEARNING ACTIVITIES

Physics is one of the most difficult subjects for engineering freshmen. (The Organic Law of Universities 6/2001, of December 21, rearrangement of university studies). This is an opportunity to reconsider university teaching; a model of education that abandons passive learning. The teacher is not the main source of knowledge. Competitiveness and personal effort are less important than teamwork. The teaching methodology is based on active learning. The teacher acts as a guide to provide learning opportunities. Cooperative learning models are based on the premise that learning is best achieved interactively rather than through a one way transmission process. However, it is difficult to develop these training activities in class. On the other hand it is important to know the opinion of students on this methodology. In this paper the results of the evaluation of a physics course, including cooperative learning activities are presented. The results of a student opinion survey on the course are also shown. This is a course for first-year physics in Industrial Electronics Engineering and Industrial Automation at the University Miguel Hernández.