A model for designing learning through multidisciplinary projects

Abstract

A method used to allow the joint acquisition of generic skills such as teamwork, design creative proposals, select information, oral and written communication to University students from different study programs is presented in this paper. To achieve this goal, first, a project using the methodology of Project Based Learning (PBL) was designed and, second, it was tested carrying out two pilot plans which involved different numbers of students and courses. The students had the challenge of converting an episode of the television show of a famous Spanish cook (Karlos Arguiñano) into a scientific radio program. For this reason, the project was called Arguiñano Project. The radio show had to be filled with a testable scientific content and to do so students had to work collaboratively and share their own knowledge background. The project was reorganized after the evaluation of the first pilot plan and it wasdeveloped again in a second pilot project, which involved more students and allowed to compare scores between students that work under PBL and others of the same course and study program that performed a similar task but without following the PBL method. The results show that PBL-based activities have a great potential for the acquisition of generic skills and also improve the achievement of specific skills and a higher degree of satisfaction when compared to a more traditional learning method

Keywords

• aprendizaje por proyectos
• innovación docente
• educación universitaria
• competencias
• multidisciplinariedad
• evaluación