A comparison between collaborative learning and situated learning teams in two freshman engineering design experiences

Abstract

Many engineering programs have first-year design experiences that are designed to initiate students into the engineering community and enhance interest in engineering. In this paper we compare how team structure affects the acquisition of effective teaming skills in two different first-year design experiences. One structure consists of a vertically-integrated team of first-year students through seniors completing a 7 week design project in chemical engineering where the teams are constructed to enable situated learning (SL). The multi-level experience is an attempt to create a community of practice in which students can interact academically and socially1. The impact on the first-year students in the SL teams was compared to collaborative learning (CL) teams where students in a freshmen-only biomedical engineering course are assigned to 3-4 person groups and complete a level-appropriate design problem. The purpose of the comparison was to determine if the structure of the team yields differences in learned teaming skills as well as how they learned. Analysis of a Team Characteristics Survey and student short answer responses indicates that both experiences generate a positive attitude toward engineering but that SL first-year students engaged in higher levels of metacognition and acquired a more complete perception of effective teams.