Influence on Students’ Learning in a Problem- and Project-Based Approach to Implement STEM Projects in Engineering Curriculum

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Please find the reviewer's comments in the attached document.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Comments 1: Suggested formulaic improvements:

• discuss collaboration methodologies

Response 1: We have added a brief comment on the advantages of working in groups, along with some references that highlight its benefits. See the paragraph in blue on p. 4.

Comments 2:

• include some qualitative outcomes in the abstract

Response 2: We have included a comment on the results at the end of the summary, highlighted in blue

.

Comments 3 and Response 3: Editorial suggestions:

• #4 on page 3 - Attitudes is blank. 

There is a formatting error. We have corrected the error accordingly and updated the document. See p. 3 parragraph in blue. 

• are 'exam like' assessments graded? yes/no, why, significance? 

No, they are not. A P²BL teaching strategy involves a more nuanced assessment of student progress, as opposed to the traditional, often binary, correct/incorrect evaluation. To support this approach, rubrics are used to capture the development of conceptual understanding in relation to the defined learning objectives. This process is explained and illustrated in Tables 3, 4, 5, and 6 on pages 9–12.

• establish consistency in decimal data - either x.y or x,y - use only one format

We have corrected the decimal formatting to follow English conventions.

• check font consistency throughout, including tables.

We have carried out a revision of the all document. We hope we have complied with the formatting guidelines

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

In general, this is an interesting topic and relevant to the direction of many institutions currently. However, it would have been good to see a 'bigger picture' approach in terms of PBL and conclusions that can be more easily applied in the reader's context. The level of detail about the specific course, the content and questions posed was perhaps unnecessary and consideration of wider implications would have made it more readable. What principles about PBL could I apply to my own situation, beyond the importance of evaluation in any new teaching approach (which is hopefully a given)?

Corrections:

The numbered list on p.3 doesn't quite make sense - why is Attitudes a separate list item when 5 (and 6?) seem to be subsets of this?

Tabla 1 should read Table 1.

Author Response

Comments 1: 

The reviewer 2 states “In general, this is an interesting topic and relevant to the direction of many institutions currently”.  However, he/she asks about “What principles about PBL could I apply to my own situation, beyond the importance of evaluation in any new teaching approach (which is hopefully a given)?”

Response 1:

The aim of this study is to describe and evaluate the implementation of a P2BL approach within the context of a dual engineering degree program, with a focus on fostering students’ key competencies through problem-solving processes. Furthermore, the study examines the impact of the P2BL methodology on students’ conceptual and methodological learning. To this end, we present several of the designed teaching activities and their implementation strategies—for example, as described in Section 3.1 and illustrated through the P2BL methodology shown in Figure 3.

While the reviewer is correct in observing that a detailed analysis of specific case studies involving classroom-implemented problems or projects is not included in this paper, it should be noted that such studies fall outside the scope of this paper. These aspects have been addressed in our other publications—for instance, see Gutiérrez-Berraondo et al. (2024), as referenced in the manuscript.

Corrections:

The numbered list on p.3 doesn't quite make sense - why is Attitudes a separate list item when 5 (and 6?) seem to be subsets of this?

There is a formatting error. The reviewer is indeed correct that points 5 and 6 refer to attitudes. We have corrected the mistake.

Tabla 1 should read Table 1.

Thank you for your feedback. There is a formatting error. We have corrected the error.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf