Examining the practice of scaffolding during problem/project based laboratory

Abstract

Continuous debates on the lack of competency in solving complex engineering problems among engineering graduates in Malaysia have generated numerous researches on inquiry-based learning within the context of engineering education. However, less work had been done to investigate how the Malaysian electrical engineering undergraduates higher order cognitions were facilitated while undergoing project-based or problem-based learning environment. This paper presents a study that examined the practice of scaffolding during Problem/Project Based Laboratory (PBLab) at Digital Signal Processing Laboratory (DSP Lab), Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). A single case study design was employed in which a lecturer cum facilitator and a group of final year undergraduates served as the purposive sampling. In-lab observations that specifically focused on the interactions between the facilitator and the students, as well as a group interview were conducted to generate qualitative data. Drawing on Wood et al.s (1976) functions of scaffolding, as well as Holton and Clarkes (2006) agent of scaffolding, concept-driven thematic analysis was conducted on the two sets of data. The main and constituent themes were uncovered to describe the main function of the facilitators scaffolding and the role of the facilitator in supporting undergraduates cognition while attempting to solve an electronics engineering problem. The findings suggested that the main function of scaffolding during the inlab session was meant for marking critical features, during which the facilitator accentuated the main parts of learning activity that were relevant to the given tasks. In addition, it is also revealed that the facilitator acted as the agent of expert scaffolding while interacting with the students during in-lab sessions. This study provides the insights into the importance of scaffolding as a mechanism for a facilitator who is the expert problem solver to empower the "epistemic selves" (Holton and Clarke, 2006) among the undergraduates who are the novices of complex engineering problems.