Abstract:

Teamwork, i.e., the ability to work effectively with others in a group, is sometimes used in the classroom to help students perform practical activities with greater competence. In fact, this work methodology allows students to foster mutual trust and create a good climate that could influence academic achievement. In teamwork, having a shared vision of the problems they have to solve allows them to be more empathetic and thus develop soft skills. Students' acquisition of teamwork competence is a continuous and progressive process. Teachers should monitor this process in order to assess the development of teamwork competence. Also, evidence of students' performance during their learning experiences should be collected and analyzed, from the teacher and other students. The case study presented in this article was designed to assist in the development of students' teamwork competence. The educational experience was carried out in the Chemistry laboratory sessions with students of the Aerospace Engineering Degree at the Universitat Politècnica de València, during their first year. The students worked in the laboratory in pairs. After finishing the third of the four practical sessions, the students were asked to fill in a questionnaire together with the session report (37 recorded their answers). The aim was to assess their involvement in teamwork and their satisfaction with this way of working. The students were asked about the effectiveness of the teamwork in terms of contributions, time management in the laboratory sessions, their time management until the delivery of the report, their attitude as a team and the quality of the work in the laboratory. Another questionnaire was given to the students at the end of the course with questions about the efficiency of their work as a team, including those about the degree of collaboration in the group, the ability to discuss, learning, motivation and partnership. Students were very supportive of the laboratory sessions and felt that working as a team motivated them to do better work. The first questionnaire showed that 81.1% of the respondents felt that they cooperated very well and had very bright ideas, while the remaining 18.9% felt that working in a team enabled them to have good ideas and that they worked well together. No students had the perception that it had been difficult to agree on what they needed to do as a team. It was also found that students' perception of their time management was good and the students stated that they were generally able to get things done on time (91.9%), however 8.1% of the students answered that there were delays from time to time and found difficult to work as a team. Finally, 83.8% answered that as a team they did a great job in the laboratory, and 16.2% a good job. The second questionnaire showed that students perceived that their grades could improve with teamwork and that they had a good time working together. Students were asked whether after the laboratory sessions the work in pairs had improved, 67.5% answered that strongly agree and 27.5% that agree. A high number of students (87.5%) strongly agreed that working in pairs in laboratory sessions increases cooperation between the two students. However, 25% of the students mentioned that there had been no discussion during the laboratory sessions. This study will be improved by adding control groups having the same practical sessions but working individually in order to contrast the results.

Keywords:

Teamwork, process assessment, professional skills, undergraduate.