Is integration really there? Students’ perceptions of integration in their project-based curriculum

The goals of integrating mathematics, science, and engineering pedagogy and curricula in undergraduate engineering programs are to build links between distinct disciplines and to provide multi-disciplinary experiences to students. Research on integration, however, indicates that there are often significant discrepancies between these goals and student perceptions with regard to the extent of integration. Drawing upon pilot study data from interviews of one first-year student cohort (75 students), this paper explores students´ perceived notion of integration in a first-year, project-based engineering curriculum at an innovative private engineering school. The paper identifies three factors affecting students´ perceived level of integration: (1) the connections made by students among mathematics, physics, and engineering design classes; (2) the students´ perceived level of communication, cooperation, and synergy between faculty teaching the above three classes; and (3) the level of perceived faculty involvement in students´ learning experiences. A positive relationship was found between the extent to which students perceived integration and the extent to which integration contributed to a positive learning experience. Early findings from this study indicate that integration in engineering education, if implemented with care, may prove to be an effective method to increase the retention of students in undergraduate engineering education.