Enhancing design thinking in engineering students with project‐based learning

Abstract

Modern society requires increasing creative talents. As an educational concept, design thinking (DT) has been successfully applied in education to foster innovation. However, educational research on improving the engineering design ability of engineering students through the design process and practice is limited. Research has shown that project-based learning (PBL) is an effective engineering education method. This research integrates DT and PBL (DT-PBL) in teaching the course "Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and Basic Algorithm Training" and discusses the teaching method and implementation of DT-PBL in detail through an example of a comprehensive training project of software and hardware collaboration based on a convolutional neural network and Raspberry Pi. This study considers the impact of DT-PBL on engineering students in terms of learning motivation and creativity using the pretest and posttest mixed method. Data analysis of quantitative tests and qualitative interviews shows that (1) The experimental group is superior to the comparison group in terms of overall learning motivation. Through a comprehensive training project of software and hardware collaboration, students can reflect on the required professional knowledge and skills, and improve their DT, engineering application, and innovation abilities and (2) The experimental group was superior to the comparison group in terms of overall creativity (adventure, curiosity, imagination, and challenge). Students in the experimental group can think more quickly and put forth more creative ideas from the perspective of user needs.

Applications of Reciprocal Teaching in Flipped Classroom to Facilitate High Level of Cognition for Sustainable Learning Practices

“…Thomas [11] defines PBL as an approach which includes authentic content, authentic assessment, and student-centered learning activities with clear and detailed teaching goals. During the PBL learning process, learners must learn to find the problem out and have the ability to implement, collect, and integrate information and to train the communication skills with others through the group discussions, and try to propose a solution to the problem with others [12,13]. In order to promote the interaction between the teacher and students and students' ability to actively think about a problem and solve it in PBL flipping classrooms, the other most important thing is to inspire students to develop their higher level of cognition.…”

“…Instructors then can easily identify student difficulties and misconceptions [8]. Project-based learning enabled students to identify the problem and then try to solve it in collaboration with other students [12,13]. Such an approach created authentic learning contexts in which problems students dealt with were those that they likely to experience in the real world [9,11].…”

Entrepreneurial capacity, teaching delivery mode, and entrepreneurial learning: Basis for entrepreneurship program development framework

“…This paper puts forward an integrated practice platform which integrates the three sub-platforms of "two hard and one soft", such as college students' innovation experiment, entrepreneurship practice platform and innovation entrepreneurship curriculum system, through integration, sharing and intercommunication, achieve the best capacity and benefit of practice teaching on the platform (Jiang, et al, 2023). To sum up, in promoting learning, we should mainly grasp the following three aspects: the first is to promote students' entrepreneurial awareness, the second is to improve students' learning ability, and the third is to promote the integration of students' creativity.…”

Application of Business Simulation Games in Flipped Classrooms to Facilitate Student Engagement and Higher-Order Thinking Skills for Sustainable Learning Practices

“…PBL is an educational model centered on project-based activities [60]. In the PBL process, students identify problems, develop the skills to gather and integrate information, enhance communication through group discussions, and work collaboratively to propose solutions [61,62]. In higher education, PBL equips students with a varied spectrum of knowledge and essential innovative skills, enabling them to effectively navigate future challenges and achieve success [63].…”