The Next Step in Challenge-Based Learning: Multiple Challenges in a Single Course in Engineering: A New Model in Experiential Education Chapter in Scopus uri icon

abstract

  • One of the most used teaching techniques in experiential education in Engineering is Challenge-Based Learning [CBL], which has the characteristic of exposing students to a current, real-life problem, developing both disciplinary and transversal skills. CBL experiences are usually designed from a specific topic that brings together many extents in the course syllabus, a challenge for the entire class group. In many cases, a training partner can generate the challenge to be solved. There is an unwritten rule in the CBL model: a challenge designed by teachers, or a training partner will be solved by an entire class, generating several potential solutions, usually in teams. In this report, we analyze a CBL experience where different training partners were involved for the same class of a subject or course, and several challenges were proposed simultaneously. Here we demonstrate that competencies can be developed using different challenges simultaneously in the same group and with several training partners. Ultimately, the evaluation was carried out with a strict competency development rubric. Thus, here we report a scheme that establishes an expanded model of CBL, where a course is not only governed by a particular challenge but also through the resolution of more than one challenge within the same group class. Our results showed that the discussion was enriched, and the designated competencies were broadly strengthened. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025.

publication date

  • January 1, 2025