No abstract

No abstract

In todayâ??s society engineer professionals play a crucial role in tackling challenges such as climate change or economic constraints, in order to promote economical development and increase of quality of life ensuring principles like sustainability or safety. It is fundamental to prepare the future engineers to these and future challenges. According to the literature, traditional engineering educational strategies used to prepare the future engineers (lectures, lab experiences and homework) have two main drawbacks. Firstly, they inadequately prepare engineering students to engage in collaborative partnerships (essential for the practicing engineer) and, secondly, they promote passive learning and contribute to a compartmentalized curriculum. As such, the traditional deductive learning may not adequately prepare students for their innovative and flexible role as future engineers. An alternative approach is the use of non-traditional learning strategies, as in the case study hereby presented. Active learning strategies, namely project-based learning, were used to contribute to enhancing problem solving and higher order thinking skills of the graduates in Civil Engineering program of University of Aveiro, Portugal. Seizing the opportunity created by the Bologna process, two complementary courses on Geotechnical subjects (Soil Mechanics I and II) have been redesigned. The non-traditional strategies implemented include project-based learning using cooperative and collaborative models, put into practice since 2007/2008. The learning strategies referred are described and discussed. Their contribution to the development of problem solving and high order thinking skills of students is pointed out. Several strategies used to promote acceptance by students are put forward. The models were assessed using three strategies: studentsâ?? feedback during the semester; academic performance; questionnaires at the end of the semester. The evolution of the studentsâ?? response to these models is discussed using data collected in the courses. The models have been adapted to overcome some of the difficulties faced during their implementation.

This research explored the integrated effect that several mobility scenarios had on traffic performance, conflicts, global and local pollutants, and emission-related costs on a University Campus. An emphasis was given to the campus parking areas. One of the main contributions of this study was the identification of hotspot in terms of emissions, costs and traffic conflict locations. A well-calibrated and validated modeling platform of traffic, emissions and safety was used to examine different traffic scenarios in the University of Aveiro, Portugal. These included the replacement of traffic lights by roundabouts, direct access to campus and some parking areas, increasing campus walkability and introduction of speed humps on main crosswalks. The analysis was performed both link-by-link and in the overall study area. Mobility scenarios with a new direct access to the campus yielded average reductions up to 9% in both costs and local pollutants (carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons), and 36% and 32% for the number of stops and traffic conflicts, respectively. Nonetheless, additional traffic conflicts can be expected within campus after the implementation of those scenarios compared to the existing situation.

Abstract:Since 2007/2008 project-based learning models have been used to deliver two fundamental courses on Geotechnics in University of Aveiro, Portugal. These models have evolved and have encompassed either cooperative or collaborative teamwork.Using data collected in five editions of each course (Soil Mechanics I and Soil Mechanics II), the different characteristics of the models using cooperative or collaborative teamwork are pointed out and analysed, namely in terms of the students' perceptions. The data collected includes informal feedback from students, monitoring of their marks and academic performance, and answers to two sets of questionnaires: developed for these courses, and institutional. The data indicate students have good opinion of the project-based learning model, though collaborative teamwork is the best rated. The overall efficacy of the models was analysed (sum of their effectiveness, efficiency and attractiveness). The collaborative model was found more adequate.