74 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION, VOL. 49NO. 1, FEBRUARY 2006 Practicing Engineering in a Freshman Introductory Course Marcos B. R. Vallim, Student Member, IEEE, Jean-Marie Farines, and José E. R. Cury Abstract—This paper discusses a teaching experience obtained in the undergraduate course of Control Engineering at the Fed- eral University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil. The course en- deavors to introduce the students to the university and to the real world of engineering and to develop an understanding of basic en- gineering concepts and foster professional skills. By introducing practicing engineering to the course from day one, student moti- vation is increased, and the relationship between theoretical and practical aspects of engineering is demonstrated more clearly. This “hands-on approach” allows the student a greater insight into the life of an engineer. It strengthens a weakness found in established teaching methods, allowing the individual to embark on his or her engineering education with greater confidence in his or her ability as an engineer. Index Terms—Active learning, control education, freshman course, hands-on approach, project-based learning. I. INTRODUCTION T HE UNDERGRADUATE engineering courses generally put scientific subjects, such as mathematics and physics, in the initial years of the program and work with more profes- sional topics such as design and finances at the end of the course. Two main arguments justify this strategy: 1) theory comes be- fore practice and should be presented first [1] and 2) the students must be more mature to better understand the real-world sub- jects and engineering approaches. This need for maturity dic- tates that these topics should be delayed until the end, when the students are older [2]. For this reason, students encounter difficulties in relating scientific concepts, learned early, with the technical knowledge required in their professional life. Many students lose their motivation during the course program [2]. Since the 1990s, undergraduate programs of engineering have offered courses that introduce engineering in the first year, in hopes of motivating the freshmen [3], [4]. This kind of course aims to put new students in early contact with aspects of engineering, giving them insight into their future profession. However, most of these courses are mainly informative and are based on lectures, seminars, and factory visits. The students have few opportunities to perform practical activities and to “feel like engineers.” Besides, the undergraduate program does not foresee any continuity between this course and the Manuscript received February 21, 2004; revised July 15, 2005. M. B. R. Vallim is with the Federal Center of Technological Education of Paraná, 88300-000, Cornélio Procópio, PR, Brazil (e-mail: mvallim@das. ufsc.br). J.-M. Farines and J. E. R. Cury are with the Department of Automation and Systems, Federal University of Santa Catarina, 88040-970, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil (e-mail: farines@das.ufsc.br; cury@das.ufsc.br). Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TE.2005.856157 following ones. In consequence, the motivation is weak and is not maintained during the course program. Actually, the real world of engineering presents complex and fascinating problems that require technical competence and social sensibility, both necessary for reaching appropriate solutions. The educational approach should support these re- quirements and at the same time create learning environments so that the students “feel like engineers” from the first day of class. Moreover, a set of professional skills must be developed [5]. A good learning environment should supply a context for learning theoretical concepts and professional skills in an integrated way [6], [7]. An introductory course would be an opportunity not only to motivate freshmen but also to supply situations that would put them in contact with real problems and would challenge them to “think as engineers,” looking for solutions for these problems. This paper describes a course for introducing control engi- neering, which has been developed since 1999, at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil. This paper dis- cusses how this course helps students to acquire professional skills, understand engineering concepts, and encourage thinking and acting “as engineers,” starting with their first class. The paper is organized as follows: Section II presents the ped- agogical proposal; Section III shows an overview of the course; Section IV discusses details about practical activities; Section V presents some considerations about the results obtained and fu- ture perspectives; and finally, Section VI highlights the main conclusions about this experience. II. PEDAGOGICAL PROPOSAL The pedagogical proposal is based on three concepts, which define “how to teach.” In addition, the course targets four key elements that define “what to learn.” Each one is described in the following subsections. A. Pedagogical Concepts New Learning Is Based on Previous Learning: The stu- dents’ previous conceptions play an important role in their learning. They act as filters in processing new information, allowing assimilation of new data, and accommodating new knowledge with current knowledge [8]. Problem-based learning and project-based learning are examples of that filtering. In this way, knowledge is extended and progressively refined; misconceptions are corrected. Learning Is a Social and Personal Process: Personal effort is an essential component of learning. However, social interaction allows students to act as mediators of knowledge for each other. 0018-9359/$20.00 © 2006 IEEE