Search Results for
"Engineering education"

Laboratories play a central role in engineering education. Current technology enables virtual experiences that challenge the traditional concept of teaching laboratories for undergraduate engineering students. Integrating technology, such as virtual laboratories, allows students to learn foundational experimental skills; however, it lacks interaction and collaboration among students, affecting student engagement, self-efficacy, and test anxiety. Pair learning is an approach that enhances interaction and collaboration among students, thereby improving student engagement and self-efficacy while reducing test anxiety. However, the integration of pair learning into virtual laboratories remains understudied. This study aimed to investigate the impacts of pair learning in virtual laboratories on students’ levels of engagement, self-efficacy, and test anxiety. A quasi-experimental investigation was carried out to assess the impacts of the proposed methodology. This research involved forty-seven freshman electrical engineering undergraduates. Data on student engagement, self-efficacy, and test anxiety were gathered using questionnaires in pre-tests and post-tests from two groups: the experimental group, which utilized virtual laboratories with pair learning, and the control group, which utilized virtual laboratories with individual learning. Quantitative analysis findings indicate a significant dissimilarity in student engagement, self-efficacy, and test anxiety levels among the experimental and control groups when utilizing pair learning in virtual laboratories. The findings of this investigation indicate that the implementation of pair learning in virtual laboratories has a beneficial effect on the levels of test anxiety, self-efficacy, and engagement demonstrated by students in engineering education laboratory courses. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2025.

STEM education is vitally important to long-term global prosperity, but it is not well understood beyond our metropolitan centres. If STEM education is to uphold principles of equity and inclusion, then robust knowledge of non-metropolitan STEM education is necessary to appreciate unique opportunities and address entrenched disadvantage. To this end, this paper presents a comprehensive scoping review of demographics, research methods, teaching approaches and emergent themes in non-metropolitan STEM education research. Following the PRISMA protocol, a 4-phase selection process identified 229 relevant research outputs. Priori and priori coding processes were applied collaboratively. Findings show that research in this field has increased significantly since 2020 and that 75% of all outputs originate from Australia and the USA. engineering and technology are underrepresented and most research focuses on primary and secondary school contexts. Qualitative and quantitative methods were typically observed in cross sectional, case study and quasi-experimental designs. Themes of relevance, collaboration, student-centred learning and technological support emerged across the 18 STEM instructional approaches. Thematic analyses showed that the core focus on teacher and student traits was supplemented by wider contextual foci, such as culture/ community, metro/non-metro comparison and partnerships. Limitations and directions for future work will be discussed. © 2025 The Author(s)

This study investigates sustainability challenges in agricultural machinery education through a 2021–2023 survey of 238 students from Chinese agricultural universities. Quantitative analysis identifies three critical issues: inadequate cultivation of craftsmanship spirit (mean=2.46), shallow university-industry collaboration (mean=2.39), and misalignment between training programs and societal needs (mean=2.54). To address these challenges, we propose an innovative industry-education integration model characterized by tripartite (government-university-enterprise) cooperation. This model establishes a "triple-chain" linkage mechanism (innovation-talent-industry chains), which includes: (1) joint laboratories (87% participation rate in experimental group), and (2) digital twin platforms for agricultural machinery training. Empirical results indicate substantial significant improvements in vocational certification pass rates (73% in the experimental group vs 35% in control group) and patent conversion rates (37%). A controlled longitudinal experiment across three regions further underscores the model's effectiveness in enhancing craftsmanship spirit (Cohen's d = 1.82) and aligning curricula with industry demands. The research contributes novel insights by integrating regional agricultural characteristics into education policy design, offering a replicable framework for sustainable talent cultivation in agricultural engineering. © 2025

The promise of knowledge society is clean, creative, and expressive work. Technological advancements would relieve humans from the tedium and hardship of labor, and access to knowledge and expansion of higher education would diminish the existing social inequalities of industrial society. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Switzerland's mechanical and electrical engineering industry, this article illustrates how the work experiences of apprentices challenge the image of labor in a knowledge society ostensibly freed from all forms of material, technological, and social constraint. I demonstrate that the persistence of the tedium and potential danger of industrial work, of organizational hierarchies, the decreasing social validation of mechanical and manual labor, and expectations and aspirations to singularity make youth increasingly interested in other kinds of employment and training. The article takes the work and learning relations in the Swiss mechanical and electrical engineering sector as a symptom of emerging tensions around the division of labor and valorization of different forms of skills, and the meaning and motivations of work in late capitalism. I argue that future anthropological studies of work and education in de-industrialized settings might do well to examine the social critique of industrial work in concert with its aesthetic critique. © 2025 American Anthropological Association.

Value creation pedagogy (VCP) is a prominent approach in entrepreneurial education, defined as students learning through creating value for others. As higher education institutions (HEIs) strive to prepare students for global challenges like sustainability, inequality and employability, VCP offers a compelling approach linking academic learning to societal contribution. Most VCP research has focused on schools or student experiences rather than university educators. To explore how VCP is enacted in higher education and why, twelve diverse HEI cases in non-entrepreneurship settings were investigated, in which educators integrated VCP into courses or programmes. Cases in engineering, healthcare, pedagogy, business, humanities and natural sciences were identified through purposive sampling and examined via educator interviews. Findings revealed strong educator engagement and demonstrated how VCP supports educators and students to progress from problem ideation to real-world implementation. Varying notions of value emerged, shaping VCP practices and influencing the forms of value students create for others. Challenges also surfaced, highlighting educators’ responses to emotional, institutional and pedagogical demands when adopting student value creation as a learning mechanism. While VCP can be introduced gradually, institutional support remains essential. This systematic cross-case study contributes new insights and practical recommendations for integrating VCP across diverse contexts in HEIs. © 2025 The Authors

Women’s participation in Green-STEM (Science Technology engineering and Mathematics) careers remains low. This study examined how to remove gender barriers in Environmental-STEM technical and vocational training programs, aiming to expand opportunities for women in the green economy. SENA, Colombia’s public TVET institution, served as the case study. Gender Transformative and Participatory Action Research approaches, along with the MICMAC method, were used to identify, analyze, and address key barriers. Surveys, interviews and focus groups provided qualitative and quantitative data. The MICMAC analysis revealed the relationships among barriers and their interdependencies, identifying nine core barriers. To address these, women-led smart strategies were implemented through learning cycles, supported by small- and full-scale green pilots focused on sustainable resource utilization, production patterns, and circular economy knowledge transfer. As a result, female apprentices strengthened their sustainability-focused skills and confidence, while SENA enhanced its capacity to foster more inclusive Green-STEM vocational pathways. This study expands existing knowledge by deepening the understanding of gender barriers in vocational STEM careers related to sustainability and environmental management in Latin America, where research remains Limited. It offers actionable recommendations on leveraging education to drive progress toward SDGs 4, 5, 12, and 13. © The Author(s) 2025.

U.S. manufacturers face significant recruitment and retention challenges, compelling them to seek support from workforce development (WD) programs. Effective WD programs actively incorporate employer input in program design, development, and implementation to ensure relevance and meet the specific hiring needs of the manufacturing industry. Using a multi-method approach, this study examined manufacturers' preferences for engagement across areas in oversight, design, delivery, recruitment, and resource support. The results show that employers seek greater involvement in strategic oversight, curriculum design, and program delivery. Structured strategies for employer participation are recommended to ensure that WD programs align closely with industry needs. © 2025 Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME)

Civil engineers’ training requires developing competencies and skills that allow them to face the challenges of professional practice. In this context, this study explores the implementation of the Extreme Collaboration (XC) methodology in an integrative civil engineering project (Capstone project) to evaluate its impact on the development of professional competencies. By integrating the Building Information Modeling (BIM) methodology and applying Bloom’s Taxonomy, the aim is to determine whether XC contributes to bridging the gap between academic training and professional practice requirements, as established by frameworks such as ABET and CDIO. Through a detailed analysis of the collaborative processes and the results obtained, the present research demonstrated that XC represents an effective pedagogical strategy to foster complex skills, such as teamwork, problem-solving, and communication, essential in the training of civil engineers capable of facing the challenges of the 21st century. © The Author(s) 2025.

Graduate employability remains a critical challenge in higher education in fields with diverse career pathways like physical education and sports science (PESS). Despite efforts to enhance employability through curriculum improvements and institutional support, gaps persist in workforce integration, particularly for non-teaching graduates. This study investigates the relationship between higher education experiences and employment outcomes among PESS graduates. Using data from 274 alumni of a state university in the Philippines, the study employed binary logistic regression to assess the influence of specialization, postgraduate education, and institutional support on employability. Results indicate that graduates in the teaching track were significantly more likely to secure employment as professional educators, while non-teaching graduates faced challenges aligning their careers with their academic background. Enrollment in postgraduate education emerged as a strong predictor of employment, however, curriculum evaluation and overall university experience were not immediate predictors of employability, though long-term employment outcomes were positively associated with graduates’ perceptions of their academic training. These findings reinforce the need for higher education institutions (HEIs) to strengthen career development initiatives for non-teaching graduates and enhance work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities. © 2025 Institute of Advanced engineering and Science. All rights reserved.

In the context of Vietnam’s rapidly changing labor market, understanding the work values of youth has become essential for effective career guidance. By using a quantitative method to examine the work values of high school students in Vietnam, with a particular focus on the impact of gender differences. A sample of 544 students (327 female, 217 male) completing the work value questionnaire (WVQ), a validated instrument that underwent reliability testing and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to ensure robustness. The WVQ, using a Likert scale from 1 to 5, assessed values including power (POW), benevolence (BEN), self-direction (SDI), tradition (TRA), and stimulation (STI). The results revealed that BEN and POW are dominated, with female students showing a greater inclination toward social values and self-assertive roles than male students do. BEN is received the highest mean score (4.09), followed by POW (4.03), while SDI, TRA, and STI are scored lower. These findings highlight the importance of aligning educational and career guidance programs with students’ core values, taking gender differences into account to create a supportive, inclusive environment for career decision-making. This research offers valuable insights for educators and policymakers, informing the development of vocational education strategies that are ensured by the diverse work value orientations of students. © 2025 Institute of Advanced engineering and Science. All rights reserved.