PROFESSIONAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY: PROBLEM OR PROJECT BASED ON LEARNING?

Abstract

In engineering education, when choosing methodologies to promote the development of professional skills that satisfy both, the requirements of the evaluation agencies and employers, two options, among others, are being considered: Problem-based learning (PBL) and Project-based learning (PjBL).However, there is a certain discrepancy in published research regarding to the suitability of applying one or other methodology, and about the way they should be integrated into the engineering academic programs. Moreover, no meta-analysis using a significant number of subjects has been found in the literature that quantitatively compares the influence of both methodologies to the development of professional skills. This study makes a first approach using the students' assessment of the methodologies, with a questionnaire, as common comparison test. A set of statistical tests of comparison of means values were conducted between two groups of students (PjBL and PBL students). The results show that project-based learning seems to have more influence to develop professional skills in engineering studies at the University of the Basque Country