Teachers’ Reflections On Their Experiences Teaching Interdisciplinary Project-Based Courses

Malin Kjellberg; Michael O'Connell; Becky Bergman; Christian Stohr

doi:10.21427/1c6t-w684

Teachers’ Reflections On Their Experiences Teaching Interdisciplinary Project-Based Courses

Malin Kjellberg
, Michael O'Connell
, Becky Bergman
, Christian Stohr

Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper › peer-review

Abstract

In project-based, interdisciplinary engineering courses, teachers face the challenge of not only imparting technical knowledge but also facilitating effective project- and teamwork. In this study we conducted a thematic qualitative analysis of 11 teachers' reflections on interdisciplinary project-based learning (PjBL). The results show that teachers appreciated PjBL as a means to motivate students and that one challenge was handling differences in terms of student disciplinary background. While most teachers did not see a need for further training, teachers who did identify such needs also seemed to already apply a wider range of PjBL teaching strategies. We discuss the implication of our findings for both practitioners and researchers.

Original language	English
Pages	652-661
Number of pages	10
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.21427/1c6t-w684
Publication status	Published - 2023
Externally published	Yes
Event	European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI) - Duration: 1 Jan 2023 → …

Conference

Conference	European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI)
Period	1/01/23 → …
Other	Workshop on teaching in student-centred active learning spaces

Keywords

project-based learning
interdisciplinary
engineering courses
teachers
student disciplinary background
teaching strategies
interdisciplinary learning
facilitating diverse teamwork
teacher perspectives

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10.21427/1c6t-w684Licence: CC BY-NC-SA

Cite this

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title = "Teachers{\textquoteright} Reflections On Their Experiences Teaching Interdisciplinary Project-Based Courses",

abstract = "In project-based, interdisciplinary engineering courses, teachers face the challenge of not only imparting technical knowledge but also facilitating effective project- and teamwork. In this study we conducted a thematic qualitative analysis of 11 teachers' reflections on interdisciplinary project-based learning (PjBL). The results show that teachers appreciated PjBL as a means to motivate students and that one challenge was handling differences in terms of student disciplinary background. While most teachers did not see a need for further training, teachers who did identify such needs also seemed to already apply a wider range of PjBL teaching strategies. We discuss the implication of our findings for both practitioners and researchers.",

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note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 SEFI 2023 - 51st Annual Conference of the European Society for Engineering Education: Engineering Education for Sustainability, Proceedings. All Rights Reserved.; European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI) ; Conference date: 01-01-2023",

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doi = "10.21427/1c6t-w684",

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pages = "652--661",

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AU - Kjellberg, Malin

AU - O'Connell, Michael

AU - Bergman, Becky

AU - Stohr, Christian

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - In project-based, interdisciplinary engineering courses, teachers face the challenge of not only imparting technical knowledge but also facilitating effective project- and teamwork. In this study we conducted a thematic qualitative analysis of 11 teachers' reflections on interdisciplinary project-based learning (PjBL). The results show that teachers appreciated PjBL as a means to motivate students and that one challenge was handling differences in terms of student disciplinary background. While most teachers did not see a need for further training, teachers who did identify such needs also seemed to already apply a wider range of PjBL teaching strategies. We discuss the implication of our findings for both practitioners and researchers.

AB - In project-based, interdisciplinary engineering courses, teachers face the challenge of not only imparting technical knowledge but also facilitating effective project- and teamwork. In this study we conducted a thematic qualitative analysis of 11 teachers' reflections on interdisciplinary project-based learning (PjBL). The results show that teachers appreciated PjBL as a means to motivate students and that one challenge was handling differences in terms of student disciplinary background. While most teachers did not see a need for further training, teachers who did identify such needs also seemed to already apply a wider range of PjBL teaching strategies. We discuss the implication of our findings for both practitioners and researchers.

KW - project-based learning

KW - interdisciplinary

KW - engineering courses

KW - teachers

KW - student disciplinary background

KW - teaching strategies

KW - interdisciplinary learning

KW - facilitating diverse teamwork

KW - teacher perspectives

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DO - 10.21427/1c6t-w684

M3 - Paper

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EP - 661

T2 - European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI)

Y2 - 1 January 2023

ER -

Teachers’ Reflections On Their Experiences Teaching Interdisciplinary Project-Based Courses

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Keywords

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