Abstract
The Kolb model is widely used to analyze the learning style of engineering students; however, there are no published studies carried out in Portugal. This study was applied to students who had just began there courses at a Portuguese engineering school. This study object is to assess whether there is a clearly majority learning style; whether there are differences in the learning style among all students and between students in the industrial management course and those in the technological engineering courses. The results allow the pedagogical practice improvement in the classroom regarding the effectiveness increase of the teaching process. This study results also allow improving the way students approach the study, overcoming difficulties in understanding the topics studied, improving the construction of their skills and increasing the quality of the learning process.
Highlights
It is a common state that engineering schools do not prepare well enough their students for the present-day job market
The Concrete Experience (CE) and Abstract Conceptualization (AC) scales are uncorrelated with Active Experimentation (AE)-Reflective Observation (RO) and AE and RO are uncorrelated with AC-CE
Concerning teachers, the knowledge of learning styles allows them to adapt the pedagogical practice in the classroom to the varied profiles of students, minimizing the discomfort felt by students immersed in a pedagogical practice that does not stimulate effectiveness and motivation in the teaching-learning process
Summary
It is a common state that engineering schools do not prepare well enough their students for the present-day job market. Today’s professional face a global market and international jobs that have both competition and innovation needs. For this reality professionals are required to have both the traditional scientific and technological skills and modern skills, like social and management skills, whether those are industrial or organizational. Reference “The preferences students have for thinking, relating to others, and particular [18] quoted by [19, p. 41] vidual’s preferred or best manner(s) in which to think, process information and demonstrate learning; an individual’s preferred means of acquiring knowledge and skills; habits, strategies, or regular mental behaviours concerning learning, deliberate educational learning, that an individual display”. “A particular mode according to which an individual learns and thinks, a pre- [17, p. “A particular mode according to which an individual learns and thinks, a pre- [17, p. 2] ferred means of acquiring knowledge, and habits and strategies associated with learning”
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