DEVELOPING LABORATORY PROJECTS FOR A JOINT CHINESE/NZ MECHANICAL ENGINEERING PROGRAMME

In engineering education, the underlying theory is developed in classroom lessons and its application in engineering is usually reinforced with laboratory experiments. Practical laboratory experiments that are performed in small groups or teams are common practice in most engineering programmes at a tertiary level around the world. In the Chinese education system, however, students often have little exposure to team-based assessments, and practical components are more observational that participatory. This paper reviews two project-based laboratory experiments that were developed for groups of 45 and 80 mechanical engineering students respectively in a Chinese University, as part of a collaborative degree program with Otago Polytechnic New Zealand. The first laboratory was part of strengths of materials course and was designed to reinforce understanding of strain gauges, which are passive transducers that convert a mechanical displacement due to applied force into a change of resistance. The second laboratory was developed for the thermodynamics and heat transfer course, where the students were required to conceive, design, construct and test a solar hot water system. Through developing more project-based and team-centred laboratories for larger classes, we discovered potential to integrate technical knowledge and logical problemsolving techniques with important aspects of group culture and language learning. We believe project-based and team-centred laboratory experiments run for larger classes in contexts like China can function as important steps towards more open-ended project-based and learnercentred learning. Further, building in language learning opportunities (LLOs) help to initiate students into the target language medium. Through the merging of a traditional laboratory with a CDIO-based project cycle and focus on language learning, we believe we can prepare students for successful learning in a project-based environment on a joint degree programme.