Abstract:

Active learning is widely used in engineering faculties around the world. As students advance from one year of study to another, their involvement in team projects, problem solving and practical projects increases. It is easier for academics who teach advanced years students to apply active learning methods, because their students have a larger body of professional knowledge than first or second year students. The aim of the paper is to demonstrate the importance of active learning for first year engineering students. The additional efforts that teachers have to make in the subjects taught to first year students when they choose active learning, will always be rewarded by the very good results of their students. The research is based on the analysis of the data collected by the author during five calendar years, at Marketing seminars taught in the first year to students from two specializations of an engineering faculty in Romania. The involvement of these students in new product launch projects led to a better understanding of the theory taught in the course, not just the practical aspects of Marketing, which was reflected in the final grades obtained in this discipline. The results of the study from secondary sources clearly highlight the stimulation of students' creativity through active learning, many of them managing to obtain awards at the annual local communication session. Moreover, having reached the second year of study, some of the awarded students continued the development of the respective team projects and participated in national competitions and conferences, where they won new prizes. For a better application of active learning, it is difficult for academics to make connections in the first year of study with subjects that will be taught in the following years. However, active learning leads to many satisfactions, both for teachers and students. Following the quantitative research carried out, I have demonstrated that more and more academics who teach technical or economic subjects use active learning and involve first-year students from different engineering specializations in the local communication session, to sustain their projects.

Keywords:

Team, active, learning, year, engineering.