Abstract:

There is a growing call for the introduction of problem-based learning methodologies in engineering curriculum in order to promote students learning and lead them to achieve 21st century skills. This paper presents a case study about three computer engineering students who designed an Augmented Reality (AR) application in the framework of their final project before graduation. Supervised by higher education teachers from a Polytechnic Institute of Portugal, the students took the challenge of designing a mobile AR game to promote primary school students’ interest to learn about our Solar System. In order to develop the application, the engineering students had to use interdisciplinary knowledge related to mathematics, databases, programming and information systems, amongst others. Furthermore, it demanded the use of new tools and technologies. Another big challenge was the fact that some contents such as 3D modeling and game programming were not learned in the scope of their course, which brought greater challenges to this project. Despite the demands of the project, the students succeeded in the creation of an AR application. In the course of the application development, the game designers had the opportunity to perform several experiences with primary school students in order to test their feedback about the game and improve it after each experience in the field. We conclude that with the problem-based learning methodology the engineering students were able to implement knowledge from their course and, also, to acquire new knowledge in order to succeed in the design of the AR application.

Keywords:

Problem-based learning, mobile games, augmented reality.