Enhancing teamwork skills through an engineering service learning collaboration

Abstract

The purpose of this research paper is to explore whether participation in an interdisciplinary collaboration program partnering Preservice Teachers (PST) and Undergraduate Engineering Students (UES) results in an increase in teamwork effectiveness. The interdisciplinary collaboration was designed as a service-learning project within existing undergraduate programs that included the development and delivery of engineering content to a K-12 audience. The collaborations were integrated into existing courses in two colleges, engineering and education. The Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS) version of the Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness (CATME) was used midway and at the end of the project to evaluate teamwork effectiveness. Results of the analysis indicated that both PST and UES were rated significantly higher in team-member effectiveness at the end of the project across four of five factors: interacting with team members, keeping the team on track, expecting quality, and having relevant knowledge, skills and abilities. The gain in the teamwork effectiveness did not differ across majors, with both UES and PST showing similar gains. A noticeable positive increase in student attitudes towards the task was also observed between the midway and the end of the project. Findings from this study provide some preliminary evidence that an innovative interdisciplinary service learning experience partnering engineering and education students was conducive to the development of teamwork skills.