Learning in engineering: Teacher as researcher in a tertiary context

This study focuses on the efforts of a small group of undergraduate engineering students as they explore their perceptions of their learning environment generally, and their approaches to learning in a specific engineering subject. A case study methodlogy is used, and my role of teacher as researcher is described and contextualised as I work with my students in weekly meetings outside their classrooms. Issues of cognition and affect emerge as we negotiate and develop a process where the students act as observers in their own classrooms. Observers' reports to weekly group meetings provide a framework to challenge individual students' assumptions about their learning approaches, and to explore enhanced metacognition. The nature of learning in engineering as a complex interaction of problematic issues is evidenced through this observation and reporting process. Implications for other learning contexts are considered.