Project-Based Learning in Engineering Education: Is it motivational?

This preliminary study explores the feasibility of incorporating theARCS(Attention-Relevance-Confidence-Satisfaction) model of motivation into project based learning (PBL) in a college engineering course on Functional Fibrous Biomaterials. The project involved design of wearable computers and consisted of five stages, orientation, identifying and defining, planning, implementing, and reporting and evaluating. The students worked in self-selected small single-gender groups to design their projects. According to the authors, it was feasible to incorporate ARCS into PBL, and the instructor was satisfied with the quality of the projects. An ARCS-based assessment tool, the Instructional Materials Motivation Scale (IMMS), found that the lowest scores were on confidence.Menrated attention, relevance, and satisfaction as above neutral but that women's ratings were below at least slightly below neutral on attention, confidence, and satisfaction and lower than men on all four aspects of motivation. Educational implications are discussed.