Search Results for
"Engineering education"

Higher engineering institutions strive towards educating globally competent students, and this article examines curricular approaches to global competence education. Based on qualitative interviews, it explores engineering educators' perspectives on student preparedness, their experiences with global competence integration, and their attributions of responsibility for such learning. In its findings, the article highlights educators' doubts about engineering graduates' preparedness for global workplaces. Moreover, it retraces a variety of educators' approaches to integrating global competence learning and highlights the challenges they face in this endeavour. The article further shows how engineering educators perceived global competence education as important and acknowledged their own role in supporting it, but attributed the main responsibility for ensuring students' competence development to institutional management. The article concludes with a discussion on the potential consequences of the educators' perceptions and examines possibilities for a strategic institutional approach to global competence education. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Enhancing graduate employability is a growing priority in higher education, yet how to conceptualise and assess it remains contested. This study identifies key limitations in employability assessment within the discipline of engineering based on a systematic review of 26 existing measurement instruments. Six critical insights for developing robust measures are identified: 1) conceptual clarity and consensus, 2) discipline (and sub-discipline) specificity, 3) holistic developmental foci, 4) translational rigour in operational definitions, 5) rigorous empirical validation, and 6) robust and apposite reporting mechanisms. Building on these insights, we recommend that employability measurement in engineering shift from short-term industry alignment toward future-oriented approaches that prioritise adaptability and long-term value for graduates, employers, and society. Additionally, higher education institutions should adopt comprehensive, validated frameworks and foster collaboration across academia, industry, and policymakers to improve employability measurement in engineering education. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Primary school students studying in rural areas in Türkiye are among the disadvantaged groups in the context of the principle of equality of opportunity in education. It is thought that providing STEM education to these students plays an important role in providing them with twenty first century skills that are necessary for the age. However, there are not enough studies in the literature on the effectiveness of STEM education for rural students. In this context this research aims to reveal the effect of STEM activities designed according to the 5E learning model by integrating the cooperative learning model in the context of social learning theory on the twenty-first century skills of rural primary school students. The 5E learning model provides a guide for preparing lesson plans in line with the STEM approach because it emphasizes problem-solving skills, is suitable for engineering design processes, and allows the information presented in the course to be associated with daily life. The study was designed according to the time series design. In time series design, more than two measurements are made to determine the change that occurs as a result of the experimental process. According to the measurement data obtained, the direction of the change that occurs in the experimental process is tried to be determined. The study group of the research consists of 19 primary school students studying in a rural school. The "twenty first Century Renewal and Learning Skills" scale was used as a data collection tool. Repeated measures Anova test was used to analyze the research data. As a result of the research, it was concluded that STEM activities had a significant positive effect on the twenty first century skills of rural primary school students. In line with the findings obtained as a result of the research, it can be stated that STEM activities can be effective in developing twenty first century skills of students in rural areas. The important limitation of the study is the use of a one- group experimental design. It is recommended to conduct experimental studies in which the control group is included in future research. © 2025 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

This study investigates the effect of Video Project-Based Learning (VPjBL) on the practical competency of students in multilevel turning. A quasi-experimental design was employed, involving 66 mechanical engineering students divided into an experimental group (n = 32) that received VPjBL instruction and a control group (n = 34) that followed conventional PjBL. Data collection was conducted through pre-tests and post-tests to measure students’ practical competencies. Results revealed a statistically significant improvement in the experimental group’s performance, with a mean post-test score of 87.66 compared to 70.09 in the control group (t = 41.450, p < 0.001). N-Gain analysis further revealed a high category learning gain (0.7155) for the experimental group. Student response analysis showed strong engagement, with 93.75% rating the VPjBL approach as good or very good. The findings demonstrate that integrating video into PjBL enhances students’ competency acquisition and engagement. This research supports the adoption of multimedia-enhanced instructional strategies to improve practical skills training in vocational education. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.

This article aims to present the results of an analysis of the level of perceived achievement of the complex thinking competency in a population of engineering students at a technological university in western Mexico. The intention was to contrast the levels of achievement perception of this competency and its sub-competencies in two sample groups, one with first-semester students and the other with students in their last semester, to identify if there was an equitable development between men and women. Methodologically, we employed multivariate descriptive statistical analyses, confirming the development gap between genders. Although both men and women perceived developing the competency and its sub-competencies, women had more limited results, which, at the end of their university career, led them to be surpassed by their male peers. © 2025 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Science standards have played an increasingly central role in shaping the landscape of school science over the past several decades, as societies have endeavored to better educate scientifically literate citizens and prepare a technically capable workforce. Yet, evidence that standards have driven improvements in either the quality of instruction or student learning is scarce. We argue that the construction of science standards may unintentionally promote instruction that does not align with learning theory, and this may limit the potential impact of science standards on science teaching and learning. Using the lenses of constructivism, motivation, and situated cognition, we review and discuss the construction of science standards using the US Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as an example. Based upon this review, we propose a path forward for reinventing science standards that organizes standards according to contemporary issues and contexts rather than disciplinary content ideas and prioritizes students' “informed agency” over “competence.” We argue that such an approach to constructing standards is more likely to promote instruction that aligns with learning theory and that more effectively supports instruction that reaches the societal and workforce goals espoused by current standards documents. © 2025 The Author(s). Journal of Research in Science Teaching published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of National Association for Research in Science Teaching.

Marginalised youth in resource-constrained vocational education and training (VET) centres struggle to create engineering products and services with entrepreneurial value. This is due to limitations in the vocational engineering curriculum in addressing real community needs, exacerbated by inadequate resources, limited technology access, and other socio-economic challenges. This paper explores how the vocational engineering programme curriculum can be enhanced to improve learners’ capabilities to create engineering solutions with entrepreneurial value tailored for low-income consumers. The approach explores the Learning Factory (LF) concept, where design optimization strategies are investigated, rooted in sustainable humanitarian engineering, cost-effective materials, and energy-efficient production methods. The research entails enhancing the vocational curriculum by integrating authentic, real-world projects in real settings, giving students hands-on experience with engineering and business practices. The proposed methodology allows for a participatory approach to be explored in engaging local communities and stakeholders, ensuring the solutions fit the region's cultural and economic needs. The research highlights challenges and opportunities in VET institutions in Western Kenya and ways to optimise their engineering design and production processes. Additionally, this study offers insights for educators, policymakers, and practitioners in similar resource-limited settings. This study explores how a traditional hands-on, project-based approach complements the principles of learning factories, offering a practical model for fostering innovation and skill development in resource-constrained vocational settings. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.