Abstract:

Project-based learning (PBL) is a very interesting tool for developing student skills. This pedagogy involves active learning based on the study and research of challenging topics. Students are responsible for developing their own projects. Teachers act as dynamic and motivating agents.

This paper presents a teaching-learning proposal that offers students of the Degree in Environmental Sciences the opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills needed to face problems in the field of waste management. This proposal has been implemented in the classroom and the results obtained have been analyzed, both in academic performance and in the attitude of students towards the course Waste and Soil Management and Treatment. This work summarizes the preliminary results of the application of PBL pedagogy to this subject, which is included in the official Degree in Environmental Sciences of the Universidad de Jaén, Spain.

The teaching team selected integrated topics such as eco-design, biofuels from wastes, management of electric and electronic devices, textile waste management or waste collection systems. The aim was to develop the PBL tool in dynamic classroom activities. The motivational background on real news in the context of the circular economy model challenge was used as starting point. The students working on small groups carried out their own research based on concepts such as waste minimization, biorefinery and bioeconomy.

The final surveys used as an assessment tool showed a great student satisfaction with PBL methodology. Student contributions to future improvements on the classroom experiences were also of great interest. The connection between learning and research greatly enriches educational experiences. PBL helped to students for integrating concepts and it provided them with very useful learning tools for their future work. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic made it necessary to adapt the educational methodologies towards a virtual system, which obviously affected this experience. More than 80% students considered that the experience had been very useful to understand basic concepts of the course and almost 90% students indicated that ABP tool helped them to develop their ability to make critical arguments and analysis with this pedagogy tool. All students indicated that PBL helped them to develop autonomous learning and all of them showed positive attitudes in collaborative work and teamwork.

The authors thank the Universidad de Jaén for the finantial support of the learning innovation program entitled “Aprendizaje basado en proyectos para asignaturas de ciencias e ingeniería” (Ref. PID19_201819).

Keywords:

Motivation, active and cooperative learning, critical pedagogy, environmental concerns.