Multidisciplinary Engineering Educational Programme Based on the Development of Photovoltaic Electric Vehicles

Abstract

This study compares two methodologies for organising the working groups of a multidisciplinary project-based learning programme aimed at strengthening students’ transversal skills. The subject of the project was the design and manufacture of prototypes of light electric vehicles powered exclusively by photovoltaic energy. The difference between the two methodologies was the way in which the tasks were distributed among the working groups. In the first method, each group of students specialised in one of the tasks and many of these tasks were carried out simultaneously. In the second method, the tasks were organised sequentially and all groups were involved in some part of them. The results have shown that the first method allows a higher net return on the students’ work and a greater reinforcement of the skills acquired in the project, while the second method requires a rather less complex organisation, enables a more balanced distribution of the students’ work, allows rapid progress in the acquisition of a greater number of practical skills and presents a greater opportunity for implementing multidisciplinary teaching.