Learning engineering contents from different courses through a hands-on activity teamwork

The silo-based curriculum organization do not enable the integration of different contents when students have to solve a problem that involves these contents. To eliminate this silo-based, the authors of this paper carried out a conjoint initiative in giving a common project to the Integrated Master of Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM) students in the School of Engineering of University of Minho. Production Systems Organization I and Process Control and Automation are two courses in the 3rd year of IEM. These courses are logically different content-based. Nevertheless, both are related to design production systems and factors (industrial automated mechanisms). Doing this, production system will produce in less time and it will be waste-free. By developing a common project for both courses, the authors of this paper and teachers of the two courses, expected that students realize the course contents integration. As a main result, the students organized in teams, performed a hands-on activity in the class where they simulate an automated production line. The assessment process included the role-play activity and the relevant information that supports it. After a first experience which revealed positive outcomes, the authors repeated the experience concluding that it is worth to continue investing in such integrated activities.