Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

2024

DOI

10.18260/1-2--48086

Publication Title

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Pages

1-18

Conference Name

2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, June 23-26, 2024, Portland, Oregon

Abstract

Two project-based learning approaches were implemented in a 100-level information literacy class in the Mechanical Engineering program at a mid-Atlantic university. One approach, the treatment group, partnered engineering students with education students to develop and deliver engineering lessons to elementary school students. In the second approach, the comparison group, engineering students were partnered with their engineering classmates to work on an engineering problem using the engineering design process. The two projects were designed to have similar durations and course point values. For both projects, teams were formed, and peer evaluations were completed using the Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness (CATME) survey. This study examined how the two project-based learning approaches affected students' teamwork effectiveness. Data were collected from undergraduate engineering students assigned to groups in the comparison and treatment condition from Fall 2019 to Fall 2022. Data was collected electronically through the CATME teammate evaluations and project reflections (treatment, n = 137; comparison, n = 112). CATME uses a series of questions assessed on a 5-point Likert scale. Quantitative analysis using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Covariance (ANCOVA) showed that engineering students in the treatment group expected more quality (p-value = 0.004), were more satisfied (p-value = 0.05) and had more task commitment (p-value = 0.003) than engineering students working within their discipline. However, no statistically significant differences were observed for teamwork effectiveness categories such as contribution to the team’s work, interaction with teammates, keeping the team on track, and having relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities. This result suggests that engineering students who worked in interdisciplinary teams with an authentic audience (i.e., children) perceived higher quality in their projects and had higher levels of commitment to the task than their peers in the comparison group. A thematic analysis of the written reflections was conducted to further explain the results obtained for the three categories: expecting quality, satisfaction, and task commitment. The thematic analysis revealed that the treatment or interdisciplinary groups exhibited considerably more positive reflections regarding the project in all three categories, supporting results obtained quantitatively.

Rights

© 2024 American Society for Engineering Education

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2024 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015

Original Publication Citation

Kumi, I., Ringleb, S., Cima, F., Ayala, O., Kaipa, K., Kidd, J., Gutierrez, K., Pazos, P., & Rhemer, D. (2024). The benefits of interdisciplinary learning opportunities for undergraduate mechanical engineering students [Paper presentation]. 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://doi.org/10.18260/1-2--48086

ORCID

0000-0003-3376-0252 (Ringleb), 0000-0002-1453-2353 (Cima), 0000-0003-0604-8606 (Ayala), 0000-0002-8095-938X (Kaipa), 0000-0001-9800-1690 (Kidd), 0000-0002-9339-7574 (Gutierrez), 0000-0003-4348-7798 (Pazos)

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