Transportation Engineering Education for Undergraduate Students: Competencies, Skills, Teaching-Learning, and Evaluation
Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 141, Issue 3
Abstract
In general terms, engineering education at the undergraduate level should be based on at least three aspects: the definition of learning outcomes aligned not only with theoretical contents but also with competencies and skills; the specification of teaching-learning methods; and the evaluation of the learning outcomes. The purpose of this study was to analyze an approach that combines traditional lectures and active learning into one strategy to help in the development of competencies and skills demanded by the transportation engineering profession. The authors examined if the acquisition of the skills could be assessed through conventional evaluation techniques and concept maps. An experiment was conducted for the specific case of the course Planning and Analysis of Transport Systems, in three phases: (1) planning the teaching-learning process; (2) evaluating the teaching-learning process; and (3) evaluating the teaching-learning product. The results show that the use of a problem-identification methodology combined with conventional classroom activities is adequate in addressing the domains of the conceptual relationships and relational and attitudinal cognitive procedures, as presented in Bloom’s taxonomy. The main conclusion refers to the use of concept maps as a strategy for learning evaluation. The results suggest that concept maps can serve as an additional assessment instrument, to assure an evaluation that is more precise and coherent with the learning outcomes desired for transportation engineering education.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the Brazilian agencies CAPES (Post-Graduate Federal Agency) and CNPq (Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) for the financial support provided to this research.
References
Accreditation Board for Engineering, and Technology (ABET). (2012). “Criteria for accrediting engineering programs: Effective for reviews during the 2013–2014 accreditation cycle.” 〈http://www.abet.org/uploadedFiles/Accreditation/Accreditation_Step_by_Step/Accreditation_Documents/Current/2013_-_2014/eac-criteria-2013-2014.pdf〉 (Apr. 24, 2014).
ASCE. (2008). Civil engineering body of knowledge for the 21st century: Preparing the civil engineer for the future, 2nd Ed., Reston, VA.
Ausubel, D. P., Novak, J. D., and Hanesian, H. (1978). Educational psychology: A cognitive view, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.
Barroso, L. R., and Morgan, J. R. (2009). “Project enhanced learning: Addressing ABET outcomes and linking the curriculum.” J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract., 11–20.
Berbel, N. A. N. (1998). “A Problematização e a Aprendizagem Baseada em Problemas: Diferentes Termos ou Diferentes Caminhos?” Interface—Comunicação, Saúde, Educação, 2(2), 139–154 (in Portuguese).
Bloom, B. S., Engelhert, M. D., Furst, E. J., Hill, W. H., and Krathwohl, D. R. (1972). Taxonomia de Objetivos Educacionais: Domínio Cognitivo, Globo, Porto Alegre, Brazil (in Portuguese).
Domite, M. C. S. (2001). “Problem posing and problematization in the process of learning and teaching mathematics.” Adult Educ. Dev. J., 57, 27–31.
Felder, R. M., and Silvermann, L. K. (1988). “Learning and teaching styles in engineering education.” Eng. Educ., 78(7), 674–681.
Felder, R. M., and Soloman, B. A. (2004). “Index of learning styles (ILS).” 〈http://www2.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/ILSpage.html〉 (Apr. 22, 2012).
Hartman, D. J., and Gindy, M. (2010). “Comparison of lecture- and problem-based learning styles in an engineering laboratory.” Proc., 89nd Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board (CD-ROM), Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Keirsey, D., and Bates, M. (1984). Please understand me: Character & temperament types, Prometheus Nemesis Book, Del Mar, CA.
Khisty, C. J., and Lall, B. K. (2003). Transportation engineering—An introduction, 3rd Ed., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Lambros, A. (2004). Problem based learning in middle and high school classrooms: A teacher’s guide to implementation, Thousand Oaks, Los Angeles, CA.
Leite, L., and Esteves, E. (2006). “Trabalho em Grupo e Aprendizagem Baseada na Resolução de Problemas: Um Estudo com Futuros Professores de Física e Química.” Actas do Congresso PBL 2006 (CD-ROM), Pontifícia Universidad Católica del Peru, Lima, Peru (in Portuguese).
Loureiro, I. M. G. (2008). “A Aprendizagem Baseada na Resolução de Problemas e a Formulação de Questões a partir de Contextos Problemáticos: Um estudo com Professores e Alunos de Física e Química.” Master’s thesis, Univ. of Minho, Institute of Education and Psychology, Minho, Portugal (in Portuguese).
Mager, R. F. (1984). “Writing learning objectives: Beginning with the end in mind.” 〈http://www.oucom.ohiou.edu/fd/writingobjectives.pdf〉 (Jul. 7, 2011).
Novak, J., and Gowin, D. (1984). Learning how to learn, Cambridge University Press, New York.
Novak, J. D. (2003). “The theory underlying concept maps and how to construct them.” Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), Univ. of West Florida, 〈http://cmap.coginst.uwf.edu〉 (Apr. 12, 2013).
Palmero, M. L. R. (2004). “La Teoría del Aprendizaje Significativo.” Proc., 1st Int. Conf. on Concept Mapping, Vol. 1, Universidad Pública de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain, 535–544 (in Spanish).
Rodrigues da Silva, A. N., Kuri, N. P., and Casale, A. (2012). “PBL and B-learning for civil engineering students in a transportation course.” J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract., 305–313.
Silva Junior, C. A. P., Fontenele, H. B., and Rodrigues da Silva, A. N. (2013). “Estilos de Ensino versus Estilos de Aprendizagem no Processo de Ensino-Aprendizagem—Uma Aplicação em Transportes.” Transportes, 21(2), 30–37 (in Portuguese).
Silva Junior, C. A. P., and Rodrigues da Silva, A. N. (2011a). “Graduação em Engenharia de Transportes: Objetivos Instrucionais e Diretrizes Curriculares Oficiais.” Proc., 25th Annual Congress on Transport Research and Education, National Association of Research and Education in Transportation, Rio de Janeiro, Vol. 1, 539–549 (in Portuguese).
Silva Junior, C. A. P., and Rodrigues da Silva, A. N. (2011b). “Problem/project/practice based learning and transportation engineering degrees.” Proc., Int. Symp. on Project Approaches in Engineering Education (CD-ROM), Vol. 1, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal, 237–244.
Silvestre, V., Schunemann, A., Ordoñez, A., and Vaz, J. C. (2010). “PBL e Agenda 21—Problemas Socioambientais na Graduação de Gestão de Políticas Públicas para Sustentabilidade.” Proc., PBL 2010 Int. Conf. Problem-Based Learning and Active Learning Methodologies (CD-ROM), University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil (in Portuguese).
Sinha, K. C., et al. (2002). “Development of transportation engineering research, education, and practice in a changing civil engineering world.” J. Transp. Eng., 301–313.
Zhou, C., Kolmos, A., and Nielsen, J. D. (2012). “A problem and project-based learning (PBL) approach to motivate group creativity in engineering education.” Int. J. Eng. Educ., 28(1), 3–16.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 141 • Issue 3 • July 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 15, 2014
Accepted: Jun 5, 2014
Published online: Jun 25, 2014
Discussion open until: Nov 25, 2014
Published in print: Jul 1, 2015
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.