ESTRUTURANDO A ATIVIDADE DE APRENDIZAGEM DE ALUNOS DE UM CURSO DE ENGENHARIA MECÂNICA: UMA ANÁLISE SEGUNDO A TEORIA DA ATIVIDADE

Abstract

In recent years an increasing interest in the
area of Engineering Education has been noticed in Brazil.
We present a study, from the standpoint of the student, on
the structure of daily activity of learning the subject of
Calculus I of a bachelor course in Mechanical Engineering
at a private education institution. This study is based on the
Activity Theory. According to this theory, an activity is
structured in three levels: activity (motive), action (goal)
and operation (condition). A questionnaire was elaborated
and used to collect data. The results suggest that there are
several different reasons for those students, and their main
action performed by them while studying the contents of the
course is the resolution of exercises. An analysis of the
results shows the difficulties and the need of improvements
in the teaching and learning of engineering.

Index Terms ⎯ Learning activity. Engineering course.
Activity Theory.