PROJECT BASED LEARNING APPLIED TO ENOLOGY COURSE: HOW WILL YOU MAKE YOUR WINE?

In the present work the design of project based learning for Enology course is explained. This course is taught at the third year of the Degree of Food science and technology at the Pharmacy Faculty of the University of the Basque Country (UPV/.EHU). In the knowledge field of food science and technology other active methodologies as problem based learning or case study are usually more used than project based learning, which can be more related to other disciplines (engineering...). In fact, at this moment, Enology is the unique course applying project based learning in this Faculty. This course describes the steps to make wine, from the vineyard to the commercialized product. So, it makes possible to develop a project where the students have to defined and describe each step in order to design the final product: the wine. As the combination of many variables lead to obtain many different kinds of wine, a different context was assigned by the lecturer to each 3-students group. From this starting point, each group has to define the conditions that they will choose for the different variables (grape varieties, vineyard conditions, pre-fermentative operations, fermentation conditions, methods to clarify and stabilize the wines.) to obtain the requested wine. To structure the project progress, the lecturer proposes sequential activities throughout the course, having defined previously in detail the learning objectives, related skills, materials, percentage of the mark, evaluation criteria or time foreseen for each activity. These activities lead the students to search the information necessary to get the knowledge they need and guide them to develop the skills related to their future profession. Different modalities of activities enable to deal appropriately with cross-curricular skills, including the five ingredients of cooperative learning. Also, for each activity they need to fulfill a brief form that collects the decisions taken and the reasoning. So, it allows the lecturer to evaluate them and to supervise in a continuous manner the project they are developing, giving them advices if they wander too much from the assigned purpose. The last activity consist in discuss with members of the other groups the weak and strong points and the main doubts about each almost-finalized project, so collecting and giving contributions among groups. Finally, each group will present in public and hand in their project. The present work can be an interesting experience for lecturers willing to apply project basic learning to their courses, mainly in the field of food science and technology.