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 that guide elementary school students through the engineering design
process. 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 was collected from undergraduate engineering students assigned to groups in the
comparison and treatment conditions 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,
were more satisfied, and had more task commitment 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
than their comparison peers regarding the project in all three categories, supporting results
obtained quantitatively.
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How Does Working on an Interdisciplinary Service-Learning Project vs. a Disciplinary Design Project Affect Peer Evaluators' Teamwork Skills?
Over the course of several semesters, two different project-based learning approaches were used in two undergraduate engineering courses–a 100-level introductory course that covered a general education requirement on information literacy and a 300-level fluid mechanics course. One project (treatment) was an interdisciplinary service-learning project, implemented with undergraduate engineering and education students who collaborated to develop and deliver engineering lessons to fourth and fifth-grade students in a field trip model. The other projects (comparison) involved a team-based design project contained within each class. In the 100-level course, students selected their project based on personal interests and followed the engineering design process to develop, test, and redesign a prototype. In the fluid mechanics class, students designed a pumped pipeline system for a hypothetical plant. This study aimed to determine whether participating in the interdisciplinary project affected students’ evaluation of their own and their teammates’ teamwork effectiveness skills, measured using the Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) version of the Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness (CATME). The five dimensions of CATME measured in this study are (1) contribution to the team’s work, (2) interacting with teammates, (3) keeping the team on track, (4) expecting quality, and (5) having relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs). The quantitative data from CATME were analyzed using ANCOVA. Furthermore, since data were collected over three semesters and coincided with the pre, during, and post-phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was possible to examine the effects of the evolving classroom constraints over the course of the pandemic on the teamwork effectiveness skills of both the treatment and comparison classes.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1908743
- PAR ID:
- 10447503
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- ASEE New England annual conference
- ISSN:
- 2470-928X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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