How Problem-based Learning and Traditional Engineering Design Pedagogies Influence the Motivation of First-year Engineering Students

Abstract How Problem-Based Learning and Traditional Engineering Design Pedagogies Influence the Motivation of First Year Engineering StudentsProblem-based learning (PBL) is a pedagogical practice suggested as a possible way to promotelearning outcomes, such as the ABET criteria, but it has yet to be examined in terms of itsmotivational impacts on students. Understanding student motivation is critical to attracting andretaining a diverse and qualified future engineering workforce and to creating an environmentthat supports student learning. As PBL is increasingly employed across engineering curricula,particularly in design-related courses, it is essential for educators to understand the motivationalimpacts to ensure that this promising pedagogy is deployed effectively.Toward that end, this study examines the motivational effects of PBL and a more traditionalengineering design (TED) course on first-year engineering students. Analyzing interviewscollected as part of a larger study, this paper employs the MUSIC Model of AcademicMotivation (eMpowerment, Usefulness, Success, Interest, and Caring) to address the question:How do two different first-year engineering pedagogies affect student interest in and perceptionof usefulness of an engineering degree and their first year coursework? The analysis focuses onthe Interest and Usefulness components of the model because, as the value components, previousresearch has shown that both components influence persistence and career goal development.Although the overall study design employs mixed methods (observations, interviews, andsurveys) this analysis focuses on student interviews at two sites. The PBL course offered at StateUniversity 1 (U1) included students in a single major. The TED course offered at StateUniversity 2 (U2) included students from all engineering majors. Our participants include tenmen and nine women from U1 and four men and six women from U2, all interviewed at the endof their second semester in the first year of engineering studies. The semi-structured interviewswere 30-60 minutes in length and were audio recorded, transcribed, and then analyzed usingMAXQDA coding software. Each interview was coded individually before looking across allinterviews for themes and patterns. The MUSIC model provided the primary coding scheme,with additional codes developed inductively through the analysis.The findings show clear differences in how students perceive the skills necessary for engineeringand how they learn those skills. Data show differences in entry characteristics; that is, U1participants have chosen a specific engineering major whereas most U2 participants have not, butalso show clear differences in how PBL and TED are experienced, specifically in terms of theengineering-related skills that students found useful and interesting. Students in the PBL classcited learning teamwork, communication, and research – all skills that they considered directlyuseful to their desired career. Students in the TED class, in contrast, cited learning specifictechnical abilities and skills, which they saw as having a nebulous application to their career.While differences in academic context, both on the university and classroom setting level, areresponsible for some of these results, the difference in instructional method appears to haveplayed a key part in how students reacted to their first year coursework, developed ideas aboutengineering work, and considered persisting in earning an engineering degree.