Resumen de Breaking Down the Wall: an introductory course in engineering and architecture
Naseem Daher, Farook Hamzeh, Sara I. Khaddaj
Engineers and architects employ their technical abilities, innovative approaches, and problem solving skills to deviseproducts and services that support human needs and contribute to the progress of civilizations. Designing and building inthe real world require the collaborative input of several specialists from different disciplines; however, engineering andarchitecture curricula do not necessarily emphasize multidisciplinary education. To mirror the needs of the job market,university education should focus on training students to work in a multidisciplinary environment and develop a holisticview of engineering practices that their future jobs would demand. This study presents a new course aimed at engaging firstyear engineering and architecture students in a multidisciplinary environment, which inspires students’ creativity inproblem solving and engineering design. This paper presents different teaching methods for achieving various learningobjectives, analyzing students’ satisfaction, and highlighting lessons learned from delivering a novel course to engineeringand architecture students. Results showed that students were attracted to learning about other disciplines, appreciated themultidisciplinary aspect of engineering, and were interested in acquiring professional engineering skills. Thus, the coursewas successful in creating a smooth transition between high school and university in helping students lay out the tracks forfurther development of their engineering skills.
