Designing and implementing a constructionist approach for improving the teaching–learning process in the embedded systems and wireless communications areas

Nowadays, there has been a real change in the traditional (Mexican) methodology for learning and teaching; the teaching of electronic sciences needs to identify the real necessities of students to avoid deficiencies in static classrooms. The benefits of the constructionist theory as a learning paradigm are widely recognized, because they support significant learning environments where students are actively related in implementing their own public artifacts; passing through passive to active learning states. Thus, the constructionist theory stresses the need to understand the student's thinking and to encourage them to reflect on their models as a means to improve them. This article aims to show the results derived from developing a constructionist platform for embedded systems and wireless communications education, using a dedicated methodology based on the constructionist theory. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 22:481–493, 2014; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cae ; DOI 10.1002/cae.10.1002/cae.20574