Project-based learning
Projects provide students with the opportunity to bring together knowledge based skills such as key concepts, principles and theoretical models from a number of different subject areas and apply them to real life problems. They also help to reinforce existing knowledge and provide a context to the theory that a student is learning which can help to motivate them with all of their studies.
Projects can operate within hugely diverse contexts and along a broad continuum of approaches. They may be used by a single lecturer or course team within a department that mainly uses more traditional methods of teaching or they may be linked to a complete restructuring of the learning experience of all students. Engineering is a subject which lends itself well to this type of learning where projects will typically address authentic, real-world problems.
Project based learning is just one form of enquiry based learning which also includes problem based and experiential learning.
UK approaches to engineering project-based learning, a report by Dr Ruth Graham (2010) looks at the opportunities and challenges for implementing engineering project-based learning in the UK engineering curriculum, identifies a number of UK universities whose approaches are considered highly-regarded and presents several key themes evident in UK engineering project-based learning practice
The Centre organised a two day workshop in June 2009 on Enhancing Project Based Learning in Engineering where examples of effective practice were presented.
For more information about planning and running project based learning the PBLE project produced A Guide to Learning Engineering through Projects available from the PBLE website.
View Project Based Learning resources held in our Resources database
