STUDENT TEAMS IN THE ENGINEERING CLASSROOM AND BEYOND - Setting Up Students for Success - No. 29

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Margaret

Engineering education must better prepare graduates for effective teamwork, as employer surveys and alumni feedback show gaps in readiness for collaborating in multicultural and multidisciplinary teams. Accreditation requirements (ABET) and research-based evidence highlight that student teams increase learning, retention, and higher-order thinking, while also improving achievement and attitudes for diverse groups. Effective teamwork depends on positive interdependence, individual accountability, face-to-face interaction, small-group interpersonal skills, and periodic assessment as a team.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Student teamwork need in engineering

Why student teams work: learning and performance evidence

Impacts on diverse learners

Traits of effective student teams

Framework for instructors: four components

STUDENT TEAMS IN THE ENGINEERING CLASSROOM AND BEYOND: SETTING UP STUDENTS FOR SUCCESS Cynthia J. Finelli Inger Bergom Vilma Mesa There is wide demand for engineering graduates to be capable of working well in teams. The National Academy of Engineering’s 2004 report The Engineer of 2020: Visions of Engineering in the New Century notes that “the engineering profession recognizes that engineers need to work in teams” (p. 43) and that “the challenge of working effectively with multicultural teams will continue to grow” (p. 35) . Engineering employers and graduates also see the value of strong teamwork skills, but both observe that the undergraduate experience does not adequately prepare graduates in this regard. Only 39% of employers rated graduates as “very well prepared” for teamwork in a survey conducted on behalf of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (Peter D. Hart Research Associates, 2008) . Similarly, results of a 2009-2010 U-M College of Engineering survey found that 72% of recent undergraduate alumni rated “ability to function on a team” as extremely important in their professional experience, but only 47% felt that U-M provided excellent preparation in this regard (Ofﬁce of Student Affairs, 2010) . Clearly, thereis a strong need for higher education to better prepare students for the team interaction they will encounter after graduation. The engineering accreditation body (ABET, [www.abet.org](www.abet.org)) has responded to this need by requiring engineering programs to demonstrate that their graduates have “an ability to function on multidisciplinary teams” (Haag, Froyd, Coleman, & Caso, n.d.), and many engineering instructors have integrated the use of student teams into their courses. When done well, there are a number of advantages to using teams. Research has demonstrated that regardless of subject matter, students who engage with course material by working in teams tend to learn more of what is taught and to retain it longer than when the same content is presented in other instructional formats, such as lecture (Davis, 1993; Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1998a; Springer, Donovan, & Stanne, 1999) . There is also plentiful evidence that students who work together on teams outperform even the highest achieving individual students (Hsiung, 2010; Johnson & Johnson, 1999; Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1998b; Springer, Donovan, & Stanne, 1999) and are more likely to attain higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and problem solving (Johnson & Johnson, 2002; Springer, Donovan,& Stanne, 1999; Wankat & Oreovicz, 1993) . Effective use of student teams also has powerful positive impacts on minorities and women in Cynthia J. Finelli is the Director of CRLTin Engineering and a Research Associate Professor in the College of Engineering. She has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. Inger Bergom is a doctoral student at the Center for [the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education. She has an M.A. in](the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education. She has an M.A. in)[ ](the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education. She has an M.A. in)[Higher Education. Vilma Mesa is an Assistant Professor in the School of](Higher Education. Vilma Mesa is an Assistant Professor in the School of)[ ](Higher Education. Vilma Mesa is an Assistant Professor in the School of)[Education. She has a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education.](Education. She has a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education.) CRLT Occasional Papers 􀀂 Center for Research on Learning and Teaching 􀀂 University of Michigan 􀀂 No. 29 terms of achievement and attitudes (Copper & Robinson, 1998; Drane, Smith, Light, Pinto, & Swarat, 2005), and the beneﬁts for students who interact on diverse teams are many. For example, problem-solving teams comprised of diverse members consistently perform better than teams of members who approach problems in a similar way (Page, 2007), and students’ ability to engage in active thinking, their le

FAQs

Why is teamwork training a concern in engineering education?

Employers and alumni report that undergraduate experiences do not adequately prepare graduates for effective teamwork, including work on multicultural teams.

What advantages do student teams provide compared with individual or lecture-based formats?

Research cited in the paper shows that students in teams tend to learn more, retain material longer, outperform top individuals, and develop higher-order thinking skills.

Which five traits define effective student teams?

The paper describes positive interdependence, individual accountability, face-to-face interaction, instruction and use of interpersonal/small-group skills, and periodic team performance assessment.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Margaret