How to Apply Project-Based Methodology for Students to Develop STEM Solutions That Solve Real Problems

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Teachers challenged the 10th year students of the Vocational Course of Mechatronics to find solutions to the problems or situations related to their interests. Their objectives were: to know the functioning of the Arduino board and sensors; study the electrical circuit required to connect the various components; use the sensors in the collection of information, control and execution of actions; know the programming language necessary for the collection of information, control and implementation of actions; and find solutions to solve problems.

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Teaching methodology used – PBL

For the development of the projects, the Project-Based Learning (PBL) was used. This methodology allows them to integrate knowledge from different subject areas and stimulate the development of skills provided in the student’s profile (such as collaborative work, critical thinking, creativity or problem-solving) and soft skills required by 21st-century jobs at the end of compulsory education. With the use of PBL, students take a more active and responsible role in their learning, they learn more meaningfully, and what they learn is retained for longer. It is a teaching method in which students have to investigate, test, find solution to hypotheses, discuss/analyse, describe, present and communicate the final solution of a problem.

This project allowed the teachers to change the teaching methodology and encouraged the students to look for solutions to problems, working in small groups, collaboratively. This also allowed a more personalised follow-up by teachers, which clarifies doubts of each individual student or groups and gives feedback to the work that is being developed, allowing them to create more improved projects. The project also contributes to improve student’ digital literacy, since they have to use digital tools and resources to carry out collaborative work, research, communicate, report and create presentations.

They had to investigate solutions using various technological resources. They had to investigate the characteristics and proper functioning of each sensor they used in their prototypes and try to figure out which sensors to use. Sensor programming and testing allowed students to learn through computational thinking, problem solving, and the trial-error method. Students had to idealise the structure of their solutions and used recycled materials to create them. The development of solutions to the various problems identified has enabled the integration of the knowledge and skills acquired in several school subjects.

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Process and technologies

To develop this type of project, students must go through the following phases:

Identification of a problem related to the interests and motivations of the team/group.
Problem analysis and decomposition into simpler problems.
Identification of possible electronic solutions and components and other necessary materials.
Solution/model design (3D Tinkercad), electronic circuit design (Tinkercad Circuits and/or Fritzing).
Test the components and test their programming individually.
Simulation of connections and programming (Tinkercad Circuits).
Construction of the physical model.
Connection of electronic components (actuators, sensors, Arduíno).
Programming of the electronic circuit.
Preparation of the report (Word online), with reflection.
Presentation (online PowerPoint, Canva, Emaze…).
Preparation and promotion of workshops for students from other classes.

Examples of projects developed

Project 1 – Automatic irrigation

The first project has a sensor that measures soil moisture. If the humidity value is less than a certain value, it activates the servo motor that turns the hose so that it irrigates the soil. Watering happens mechanically, in which the water leaves or not if the hose inlet is or is not higher than the water in the tank. There are 2 led lights that signal visually and a buzzer that signals with a sound, whether or not the soil has enough moisture.

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Project 2 – Opening a door through rfid

The second project has an rfid sensor that detects the “key” and the door opens and after a few seconds it closes again. There is an LCD that informs the current state of the door, open or closed. There are also 2 led lights that visually indicate whether the door is open or closed.

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Project 3 – Control of entrances in a car park

In the third project, the entry of cars into the car park is given by a push button. The door opens as soon as you click the button until the capacity is sold out (the maximum is 8 entries). The outputs are given through the use of an infrared sensor that detects the passage of cars. After the capacity of the park is full, the door only opens again if they snuggle exits. The LCD gives visual information about the entrances and exits. The green led light is always accessible indicating that there are still empty places. When the park is full the green led light turns off, turning on the red led light indicating that the park is full.

Conclusion

In my opinion, this way of teaching is more motivating for students, since they are the ones who decide what problem they want to solve; it makes them more responsible for their learning, allowing the involvement of several subjects, with teachers taking on a more guiding role. It promotes teamwork, problem solving, critical and creative thinking, scientific, technical and technological knowledge. After elaborating the prototype and analysing the results, the students had to make a conclusion where they checked if the solution solves the problem they identified and which improvement changes could be implemented. At the end, the several groups of students presented their prototype to the class, so that knowledge could be shared and the results obtained discussed.

 

 

About the author

Samuel Carvalho Branco has a master’s degree in Educational Sciences, specialising in Educational Informatics. He is a computer science teacher in a secondary school with vocational courses in the center-coast of Portugal, teaching a discipline in the vocational course of Technician in Mechatronics. He is also the coordinator of his school’s Programming and Robotics Club, a leading EU code teacher since 2019. He has been a Scientix Ambassador since 2021. The projects it does with its students are STEM projects, as students have to apply knowledge of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics to develop them, and even the Arts to create the models.

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