Research skills enhancement in future mechanical engineers

Nowadays, the Web is a common tool for students searching information about the subjects taught in the different university courses. Although this is a good tool for the first rapid knowledge, a deeper study is usually demanded. After many years of teaching a course about ceramic and composite materials in the Integrated Master in Mechanical Engineering of Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto, Portugal, the authors used the Bologna reformulation of the mechanical engineering course to introduce new teaching methodologies based on a project based learning methodology. One of the main innovations is a practical work that comprises the study of a recent ceramic scientific paper, using all the actual available tools, elaboration of a scientific report, work presentation and participation in a debate. With this innovative teaching method the enrolment of the students was enhanced with a better knowledge about the ceramics subject and the skills related with the CDIO competences. This paper presents the reasons for this implementation and explains the teaching methodology adopted as well as the changes obtained in the students' final results.