Situated Learning And Motivation Strategies To Improve Cognitive Learning In Ce

This papers describes the results obtained and the main observations made during a year long research project whose main purpose was to integrate situated learning and some motivational tools in an undergraduate civil engineering course (Soil Mechanics I). New teaching material was developed almost from scratch around a main theme and several secondary themes. Oriented discussions and exercises were prepared in order to help the students acknowledge the new professional skills they had acquired. The motivational tools served as means to create a better teaching and learning environment in the classroom and in the laboratory. The response of the students was constantly monitored. The results show that the various activities strategically planned to motivate the students to become active learners and to situate them in the context of the practice of Civil Engineering had a positive effect on several aspects, including their perception the of the significance of the knowledge being acquired, of the reality of their future profession and of the importance of the tools they might need. Another significant increase relates to the perception the students ended up with of their capacity to transfer the knowledge acquired to other situations.