Systematic creativity, challenge-based instruction and active learning: a study of its impact on freshman engineering students

This research shows an experiment using systematic creativity tools, challenge-based instruction and active learning methods withfreshman mechanical engineering students during the course Introduction to Engineering at Tecnolo¬gico de Monterrey, MonterreyCampus. The objective is to identify ways of impacting on the creative profile and learning abilities of engineering students during theirprofessional formation. The students were divided into two groups: one experimental group and one control group. The experimentalgroup received an introduction to the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) and was asked to identify and start working on thesolution of challenging engineering projects based on active learning methods, while the control group took the course in the traditionalway, typically taught in a lecture-based format. Methods for developing teams and for transitioning from worked problems toindependent problem solving skills were also explored. The initial data regarding social and demographic characteristics, background,learning ability, and the creativity profile of both groups were recorded and analyzed, and showed that both groups were very similar atthe outset. This allowed us to identify the impact of exposing the experimental group to systematic creativity tools, challenge-basedinstruction, and active learning methods and compare the evolution of the students belonging to each group. The expectation was thatthe students in the experimental group would enhance their creative and critical thinking skills during their educational endeavor.