Abstract:

The main objective of this work is to make the students protagonists of their own learning, making them actively participate all throughout the subject in the acquisition of new knowledge and in the obtention of feedback through evaluation, where the teacher will act as guidance and assistance to their learning.

To meet this end, the authors have implemented project-based learning (PBL) as a methodology to increase the interest and motivation of the students in the subject. The base of this methodology lies in the construction of a final project, progressively developed by the students, which serves as a final objective to be achieved by them and in which the teacher provides feedback during the realization of the project. Additionally, cooperative learning has also been implemented in combination with PBL, as the students work in small groups to make this final project. This combination allows the students to work in a very similar situation to that of a real professional experience, as they form teams to carry out a certain project. This poses great advantages as they will have to develop their critical thinking, skills and ability to solve problems both individually and cooperatively, coping with several responsibilities within the team and making them grow altogether through peer-to-peer and the teacher’s feedback.

The present project has been focused on the practical section of the subject “Materials science” in the third year of the mechanical engineering degree, composed by 33 students. The work describes the results of the implementation of project based learning, combined with cooperative learning and supported by TIC technologies. The students were divided in groups of 5-6 people and different materials were assigned to each group. All along the different practical sessions, the students characterized and evaluated the properties of the materials that had been assigned to them. The students prepared a report for each one of the practical sessions, where they analysed the obtained properties and proposed new applications for the materials based on those properties. The teachers evaluated these reports and assessed the students if needed. At the end of the subject, all the groups delivered a final project where the properties of the materials were evaluated, and new applications were proposed in relation to the individual reports. This final report reflects the work done by the students all along the subject. Interestingly, the quality of the final project was higher in relation to the individual reports of each practice, which in turn had already been reviewed by the teachers. This allowed the students to correct previous errors and focus on new points of view. Moreover, Kahoot tests were done at the end of each practice session with the objective of obtaining feedback from the students. This clearly increased their attention and motivation during the accomplishment of the practice lessons in comparison with the previous year, as it was demonstrated by an increase in the marks of the students in the individual reports for each practice lesson.

Keywords:

Project Based Learning, TIC Technologies, Feedback, Motivation.