Paper Planes for Teaching Construction Production Systems Based on Lean Tools: Continuous Improvement Cells and 5S

Abstract

Teaching production systems and Lean tools is a challenge for educators in the construction area, which is highlighted by the difficulty of emulating in the classroom the scenarios that industry professionals will face. Hence, implementing pedagogical games has a high potential to improve construction education processes. However, gaps are observed in the proposal of pedagogical games applicable to teaching construction systems based on Lean tools. Considering this gap, this paper proposes a game of paper planes to support the teaching of production systems in construction based on the Lean tools Continuous Improvement Cells and 5S. The research method consisted of applying the Design Science Research (DSR) method to develop, evaluate, and improve the game proposal. Thus, the game was assumed as an artifact subject to a development and improvement process to solve an identified problem. The proposed game consists of three main rounds: (1) production system design, (2) Continuous Improvement Cells implementation, and (3) 5S implementation. The main theoretical and practical contribution is the proposal of a pedagogical game to support the teaching of construction production systems based on Lean tools, evaluating students’ knowledge by applying surveys before and after the game and assessing performance indicators. The application of the game to a group of undergraduate and graduate students showed a broad positive impact on the assimilation of the principles of construction production systems based on Lean tools.