Evolution of Student Attitudes Toward Teamwork in a Project-based, Team-based First-Year Introductory Engineering Course

Despite the growth of team-based design projects in first-year engineering courses, more research is needed into student attitudes toward teamwork and the characteristics of team experiences that lead to improvements in student attitudes toward working in teams. This study is an exploratory investigation of student attitudes toward teamwork at three time points during a first-year project-based, team-based design course: before students have begun working in teams, after they have completed an initial small-scale design project in a 4or 5-person team, and after they have completed a larger-scale design project with a different, similarly-sized team. The general classroom approach on teaching teamwork is discussed with details on the variety of teaching methods used to engage students in learning and practicing good teaming skills. The quantitative and qualitative results from the survey are discussed, and conclusions drawn as regards students’ perceived fun, frustration, and learning to understand what factors influence students’ perceptions of these three aspects of teamwork.