Abstract:

The Mechanical engineer is perhaps the most diverse of the engineering domain. A mechanical engineer can play a major role in the medical field, and in particular in biomechanics. Mechanical engineer students can develop applied learning work in this field of application that allows them to have the opportunity to contact with this reality, develop working skills in team and broaden horizons also to possible job opportunities in this field.

Because of the importance they represent in society, where the connection with the patient is determinant, doctors are a professional class where a diverse set of competences, besides medical knowledge, must be acquired in their learning. In particular for dentists, patient care is the main goal of the professional. In order to improve the skills, the understanding of the mechanical methodologies used in the clinical practice is very important. In addition, the research and prediction of the results to be obtained with different methodologies of application can play a relevant role in learning skills.

The link between the tools and methodologies used in the context of dentistry and the principles of mechanical engineering is high. For example, the development of the mechanical instruments used in this medical specialty is usually made with the involvement of mechanical engineers.

Nowadays 3D modeling and simulation of mechanical behavior through the finite elements can play a relevant role in the understanding, investigation and optimization of medical techniques applied in dentistry, which collaborative work can be done in the context of student learning. Their skills are further enriched by the interdisciplinary work in which they are involved as also their interpersonal and communication skills.

This work presents a collaborative experience among a group of students from mechanical engineering and dental medicine. The work of the engineering students was inserted in the curricular unit of automatic calculation of mechanical systems from master's degree in mechanical engineering of ISEC – Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra. The work of the students of dental medicine was inserted within the scope of a part of their master's thesis, in the medical school of the University of Coimbra.

As a result of this experience, mechanical engineering students were able to develop finite element models for real context situations in a domain they did not know. Given the need to implement the model based on the clinical principles discussed, they developed relevant skills in the context of 3D modeling and numerical simulation based on finite elements. Dental students were able to understand the differences between some different mechanical approachs to dental restoration procedures in a virtual simulation, based either in the 3D models as by the finite elements. It was also clearly observable the importance of developing interpersonal communication and dialogue between the two domains of knowledge.

As a conclusion, the results obtained evidenced of the benefits of generating collaborative work to students from these two domains of knowledge, both with applied characteristics.

Keywords:

Learning Experiences, Cooperative Learning, Cooperative Research.