Effectiveness of problem-based learning in engineering education: a comparative study on three levels of knowledge structure

• Autores: Benoît Galand, Mariane Frenay, Benoît Raucent
• Localización: The International journal of engineering education, ISSN-e 0949-149X, Vol. 28, no. Extra 4, 2012, págs. 939-947
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Dialnet Métricas: 1 Cita
• Resumen

  • The effectiveness of problem-based learning is still a matter of debate in higher education. A previous meta-analysis introduced adistinction between three levels of knowledge structure to be assessed (understanding of concepts, understanding of principles, andapplication of these concepts and principles) and showed that, in medical education, problem-based learning only significantlyoutperformed conventional learning on the ‘understanding of principles’ component. The purpose of this study is to compare theunderstanding of concepts, understanding of principles, and application of knowledge among engineering students before and afterthe introduction of a problem- and project-based curriculum (PBL). To achieve this, four cohorts of students (total N = 385), twoof which had followed a lecture-based curriculum and two a PBL curriculum, completed a criterion-referenced test assessing thethree levels of knowledge structure. It was found that students from the PBL curriculum outperformed students from theconventional curriculum, particularly on the application of knowledge. In conclusion, these results indicate that PBL can beeffective in engineering education, but bring into question the generalizability of findings from medical education to other curriculain higher education (especially when a project-based learning component is added).