O contributo da arquitectura na formação dos estudantes de Engenharia Civil: a aplicação do método colaborative peer no modelo project-based learning

Abstract

This article has as main objective to highlight the importance of the contribution of the course «Architecture», of the 2nd year of the 1st cycle of the Integrated Master in Civil Engineering (FEUP), in the training of students of civil engineering, through the application in the theoretical- -practical component of a new pedagogical methodology supported by the peer collaborative method. This method has been already applied with great success in some universities of great international prestige (Harvard, Birmingham, etc.), contextualized in the learning model called project- -based learning. In this sense, after presenting a critical reflection about the framework of the course in the current Integrated Master Programme in Civil Engineering, an explanation of the pedagogical strategies commonly used in the course is developed, therefore showing, in a first phase, the overall structure of the course, prior to the presentation of the new pedagogical model applied to the theoretical -practical component, which is the central focus of this article. The expected results of the application of the new pedagogical model, explained in Point 4, evidence not only a greater orientation of learning/assimilation of students' knowledge in the universe of Construction and Architecture, as well as the improvement and expansion of their capacities, using materials and/or technologies to support students' more active learning in the laboratories, which tend to be more a student -centered approach, as proposed by the (new) model - the knowledge application instead of knowledge transfer.