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 thearea of Engineering Education has been noticed in Brazil.We present a study, from the standpoint of the student, onthe structure of daily activity of learning the subject ofCalculus I of a bachelor course in Mechanical Engineeringat a private education institution. This study is based on theActivity Theory. According to this theory, an activity isstructured in three levels: activity (motive), action (goal)and operation (condition). A questionnaire was elaboratedand used to collect data. The results suggest that there areseveral different reasons for those students, and their mainaction performed by them while studying the contents of thecourse is the resolution of exercises. An analysis of theresults shows the difficulties and the need of improvementsin the teaching and learning of engineering.Index Terms ⎯ Learning activity. Engineering course. Activity Theory.