Abstract:

The application of Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) has increased in higher education institutions, fostering student transversal competences, knowledge of sociotechnical problems, approaching solutions to contemporary or environmental problems, or even collaboration with industry and community actors. CBL has been claimed to be an integrative methodology, which requires knowledge in the own area of expertise but also explores discipline boundaries, helping develop a series of competencies, valuable ones for future professional development. In this way, CBL lends itself to the integration of multiple subjects.

In the present work, CBL is evaluated as a strategy for integrating the knowledge acquired along bachelor’s degrees in biotechnology and Agri-Food Engineering at Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV). CBL activities were proposed in 4th year courses of the already mentioned degrees, so that students had to prepare a project or academic work, in which solutions to contemporary problems related to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) were to be provided. The projects took a complete semester and were finally presented to a panel of academics or industry experts. The research conducted tried to evaluate to which extent the CBL approach succeeded in being an integrative tool. To this aim, a questionnaire was prepared and launched at the end of the activity, in which students had to choose among the courses of the Degree (previous years or simultaneous) which ones were needed to face the challenge, and to which extent. Finally, students also had to decide on a 1-5 Likert scale if they considered the CBL approach to be integrative.

The study demonstrated that the CBL approach requires exploring the boundaries of the own discipline and it is assisted by many other courses’ contents.

Keywords:

Challenged Based Learning, active methodologies, integrating knowledge, competence development, sustainable development goals.