Remodeling the STEM Curriculum for Future Engineers

Chun-Hung Lin, Huei Chu Weng, Kuan-Yu Chen and Leon Yufeng Wu
Additional contact information
Chun-Hung Lin: Center for Teacher Education, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan 32023, Taiwan
Huei Chu Weng: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan 32023, Taiwan
Kuan-Yu Chen: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan 32023, Taiwan
Leon Yufeng Wu: Graduate School of Education, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan 32023, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 22, 1-12

Abstract: Higher education is facing low enrollment, and fewer students are motivated to select STEM majors. This paper reports the results from one university that recently experimentally reformed its undergraduate curriculum to a “theme-based curricula”, the New Engineering Curriculum Program (NECP). The subjects in this study were 127 engineering students who applied for the NECP at a university in northern Taiwan. An experimental design using the pre- and post-test measurements of the experimental and control groups was applied in this study. The results revealed a significant effect among those who participated as second- and third-year undergraduates in terms of their subject-specific performances and attitudes of learning in various courses. Furthermore, the results showed that students in the NECP showed better learning performance and higher learning motivation than students in the traditional course module. The outcomes and analyses are discussed.

Keywords: STEM; undergraduate engineering; curriculum reform; New Engineering Curriculum Program (NECP) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12450/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12450/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:22:p:12450-:d:676813

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().