Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Sr., Buck F. Brown; Jr., Buck F. Brown

questioning by the instructor.8. Students using this process usually work in cooperative or collaborative groups to gain multiple perspectives on possible solutions.Table 1: Critical Attributes of Problem-Based Education1. Since learning occurs in an environment similar to that in which the students will work, the problem-solving skills they learn will be more easily transferable to that work environment.2. Students no longer learn facts, skills and concepts as separate entities, but instead see how these can be interconnected to solve real problems.3. Students develop their own unique problem-solving skills which allow them to reason through ambiguous situations in which solutions are not easily obtained.4. Students are more easily able

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Randall L. Kolar; David A. Sabatini

,including our graduates inability to communicate effectively, to interact with co-workers andmanagement, and to think critically4,5,7,8,13,15. Among other problems, these weaknesses inhibit ourgraduates' ability to play an active role in team-oriented projects (which are becoming the normin many consulting and industry organizations11) and their ability to present these results tomanagement and the public. However, for reasons ranging from entrenched teaching strategies tolack of time, engineering education has been slow to respond to these needs. It has been ourexperience that the profession is dominated by the same learning paradigm that has educatedengineers for the last several decades, namely, passive classroom lectures, individual

Collection

1997 Annual Conference

Authors

Robert George; Allen Soyster; John Lamancusa

offaculty support will be the most important impediment. A university located “in the middle ofnowhere” may find generating nearby sponsors a difficult challenge. Even though projects aregenerated from industry, there must be lab space and technical support on campus to implementthe projects. If there is insufficient laboratory space, it is difficult for students to developappropriate models, mock-ups, software, tools and computer visualization. Most likely, allschools face some elements in all three of these categories.At a school with high research expectations of its faculty, the most significant impediment ismost likely the lack of enthusiasm among faculty for supervising such a course. The typicalindustry-sponsored senior design project course