PROBLEM BASED LEARNING IN ENGINEERING

Abstract

Educators and employers share a common goal of “educating/employing people who are highly motivated and who give 100% effort to their work”. The main reason that this goal is not realised is because the people being taught/employed lack motivation. On the education side a lot of what is taught is not applied so the students cannot see the benefit of this learning. On the employment side the workers are not able to apply what they have spent their undergraduate time learning. What is missing? The link between the students’ learning and industry needs. Problem based learning (PBL) seeks to addresses this problem. PBL is a teaching method in which students learn through solving a problem. This paper reports on how PBL addresses engineering education.