CDIO approach: the new engineering degree programs in a Brazilian HEI. The PBL Project Based Learning experience.

Second estimate of Brazilian Federal Council of Engineering CONFEA (2014), Brazil currently has about 706,000 engineers, which is equivalent to six thousand for each economically active inhabitant. Each year are added 20,000 new engineers. A very small numbers in front the necessities of a developing country with continental dimensions. The engineering education is a key element in the development process, because it is, par excellence, conductive activity of innovation in economic sectors. The paper aims to present information relating the experience of Brazilian Higher Education Institution, confessional character, implementing a new model curriculum. The HEI with about 13,000 students on four campuses was started in 2011 six new careers in Engineering, at campus São Joaquim: Industrial, Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics, Civil and Informatics, all inspired at the CDIO approach. It proposes to share the experience and the necessary customization to the particular environment. This paper presents the results of a descriptive exploratory case analysis of the implementation on the HEI. The framework is based on strong interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary each school semester, consolidated on a project to each of these periods to which are related to the specific contributions for the disciplines of the curricular unit. For the purpose of developing soft and hard skills, in a gradient inversely proportional at the course semester, from first up to tenth (in Brazil, the completion of engineering courses is done in at least 10 semesters), projects are designed and implemented in full form in structuring course subjects. In the context of these new paradigms for engineering education, in which students and teachers are challenged to change the teaching-learning process, the specific purpose of this paper is to present the experience in adopting PBL in subjects pertaining to structuring the course, specifically in Fluid Mechanics. In the traditional approach to the PBL, where the integration of concepts and skills needed occurs requiring a process of problem solving, and a commitment to learning by autonomous teams, the paper discusses the process of structuring the course, idealization and adoption of learning spaces, different of conventional lecture room, like the "Design Thinking Lab", the means of assessment, implementation and results. It makes a report on the complementary use of active learning tools, along with the discipline was developed in the semester, as the Team-Based LearningTM, the Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique and Peer Instruction. The environment in which the experiment takes place is a higher education in large classes (question: can we turn large classes) and high heterogeneity in basic education as students with a smattering of Math and Physics, typical problems of developing countries like Brazil. The evaluation of the impact of this experience-based learning in interdisciplinary projects is presented using the CIPP evaluation model (Context, Input, Process and Product) proposed by Stufflebeam (2003) as a pattern for the evaluation of the project in its various dimensions. The results we present relate primarily to the prospects of students in relation to a set of key aspects for understanding the process of implementing the initiative and its impact.

Proceedings of the 11th International CDIO Conference, Chengdu, China, June 8-11 2015