Abstract:

In recent years, the implementation of active learning methodologies in higher education has been progressing. However, the incorporation of these methodologies in the real learning environment of institutions is not always adequate, which suggests the need to improve the factors that influence their effective use in technical education.
In this sense, this study has been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of teamwork in achieving educational outcomes in a problem-based training module. This module is part of the subject Economics and Business Administration, which is taught in the degrees of Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Industrial Electronics and Automation Engineering.
The aim of the research study is to analyse the results obtained by grouping students in couples versus individually to carry out tasks, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of teamwork in obtaining educational results in a problem-based training module.
The used methodology compared the implementation of the problem-based learning module among four classrooms of groups of students, varying the number of team members. A survey was conducted among the participants to assess their perception of the benefits and preferences of the ideal team size; this way, 45.5% of the students consider groups of two to be the ideal size.
Academic outcomes related to the content covered in the module were also compared and quantified. The data were statistically analysed to determine differences according to team size, obtaining that 75.8% of the students consider the tests carried out to be positive.
This study provides valuable information, as it highlights the importance of teamwork in technical education and provides certain data on how the size of work teams can affect academic outcomes. The results can serve as a basis for improving the implementation of active methodologies in higher education and ultimately improve the training of students in technical fields.

Keywords:

Active learning, group and individual tasks, surveys.