PEDAGOGICAL RESULTS: JOINT ENTREPRENEURSHIP COURSE IN ENGINEERING AND BUSINESS SCHOOL

Abstract

This paper has the objective of testing the effectiveness of a joint course in entrepreneurship carried out by a teaching team from two very distinct schools in Brazil: one school of engineering and one school of business. The joint initiative came in the wake of an effort by both institutions to improve its pedagogical approaches and exactly when both schools were trying new methods of active learning. IME, the engineering school, was implementing CDIO. FGV EBAPE, the business school, was implementing PBL. This paper tests the effectiveness of the joint undertaking by evaluating the perception of the students at the end of the course according to four pedagogical principles, namely development of attitudes and skills; revealing the students’ knowledge in the classroom; striving for deeper understanding so that knowledge is usable; and taking a meta-cognitive approach to make students take control of their own learning. The results from the survey of former students strongly suggest that the pedagogical methodology used in this joint entrepreneurship course fulfilled all principles and indicated its effectiveness in improving learning.