Session: 09-01-01: Curriculum Innovations, Pedagogy and Learning Methodologies

Paper Number: 68801

Start Time: Monday, 12:25 PM

68801 - Learning While Playing or Playing While Learning? 

It is easier to learn something if we are engaged in. This was the motto for a teaching/learning experience with the students at the third year of the Integrated Master of Industrial Engineering and Management from the University of Minho. The goal of this study was to challenge students to acquired knowledge in the Process Control and Automation course. It is worth pointing out that this course is slight different from the other courses in the semester, which are mainly focused on production organization and management. So, the challenge was to captivate students to design automation systems.

Process Control and Automation course comprises theoretical and practical topics. Theoretical contents include topics in instrumentation and automation areas such as type and operation mode of on-off sensors, transducers, actuators and controllers, as well as the control configurations and automation issues. Practical topics include the design of sequential controllers and Ladder diagrams to automate a system.

How were students challenged?

Students worked in groups with eight to ten members in each developing two works – a Contest and a Project.

In the first, each group should teach the class the relevant theoretical contents of a pre-defined topic in a configuration similar to the well-known contest Who wants to be a millionaire?. This format requires an active attitude in students (they must look for information, study the topics, prepare the contest, and at the end teach the colleagues) and enables a healthy competition among students and it is a pleasant way to learn the contents (compared to the old fashion passive exposition by the teacher).  

In the second, students had to design an assembly cell and automate a part of it of a virtual or real-world industry. In this project, students should also implement the topics taught in the Production Systems Organization I course at the same semester. Although these courses have different ways of considering production systems, they have key points in common that students should be aware of. The project was developed during the semester and the final product, the production cell, was public presented in class in a role play configuration.

The preliminary outcomes from student’s qualitative feedback were very positive and enthusiastic which allowed the authors to conclude that this type of challenge is worth investing in future editions of the course.

Students are digitally natives. They are curious, they easily think “out of the box”. The question is to shoot the trigger! If we motivate them, they respond with a dedicated and almost professional attitude.

As limitations of this teaching/learning experience it is worth mentioning the high number of students in each group. Ideally groups should be of four students.

Presenting Author: Filomena Soares University of Minho

Authors:

Filomena Soares University of Minho
Anabela Alves University of Minho