Reports from teaching practice: experiences and management of tensions encountered with PBL implementations in the early years of undergraduate engineering education

In engineering education, problem-based learning (PBL) environments are utilized in senior years (through design capstone courses) and increasingly in the first and second year undergraduate education. Faculty who implement PBL in the first two years face unique challenges and tensions with regard to PBL and elements of engineering education reform. This research study investigated how US faculty (n=313 for survey and n=14 in-depth interviews) experienced and managed the tensions. Findings show that faculty particularly managed the tensions by (1) setting and explaining expectations to help students understand the new learning environment, and (2) by tailoring the learning activities to the level of the student. Details and further research directions are described in the paper.