This article defines the modern interdisciplinary trends in engineering and the collaboration of engineering with other sciences. Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts (STEAM) approach has been chosen as suitable for teaching engineers in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) classroom. The authors created different tasks with art elements in teaching ESP. The topics of the tasks are: material properties, environmental/global sustainability issues, human factors engineering, employment of engineers, and engineering education. Scaffolding, appropriate time management, cooperation, creative atmosphere, native materials are the conditions for the effective usage of the tasks within STEAM approach. The results of the pedagogical experiment in 2019 at the National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” (Igor Sikorsky KPI) amongst 30 chemical engineers proved the improvement of language skills and other skills of the 21 century such as cooperation, digital, problem-solving, creative thinking. An anonymous questionnaire confirmed students’ positive perception of the STEAM approach.
The article suggests art and ESP integration in a foreign language classroom at technical university. The authors describe five parts of the art and ESP integrated project "Water treatment" developed for teaching chemical engineers ESP at tertiary level. Each part of the project combines art such as poster drawing, writing a poem, creating a brand and making videos with ESP purposes. The results of the pedagogical experiment conducted at the National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute" (Igor Sikorsky KPI) proved the improvement of professional language, engineering creativity, intellectual engagement and collaboration skills of the students of the experimental group. The answers of the questionnaires conducted among the ESP teachers and students of Igor Sikorsky KPI showed their positive feedback about art and ESP integration. The issues of engineering creativity, active engagement, collaboration and authentic material usage were studied as components of multidisciplinary and multipurpose art and ESP integrated approach. The concluding part of the article outlines the main problems which can occur while integrating art and ESP in Ukraine such as lack of time and materials for exploring art, possible sсepticism towards art elements in ESP.
Abstract−The purpose of the study was to investigate BA (bachelors of art) and (bachelors of science) students’ and ESP (English for Specific Purposes) teachers’ perceptions of creative thinking skills in the ESP classroom and study the current international approaches of fostering them at the ESP lesson. Participants in the research include 51 BA students from Portugal and 56 students from Ukraine as well as 30 Ukrainian and 16 Portuguese ESP teachers. Questionnaires were used for the purpose of gathering information from respondents. This research has confirmed the lack of fostering creative thinking skills in ESP classrooms in Portugal and Ukraine. The findings showed that the majority of ESP teachers in both countries would like to spend more time on fostering creative skills than they actually did. As the results identified teachers from Portugal and Ukraine often experienced problem-based learning, but in Portugal there was also a greater use of role playing as a part of creative approach, and in Ukraine there was a greater use of project-based learning. Creative skills Ukrainian and Portuguese students consider to be important for them were trying new experiments, searching for new ways to solve the problem, creating new associations and interdisciplinary links, choosing new information sources. Professional situations which according to the students’ answers demanded from them creative thinking skills were defined in the article too. Creative ESP tasks students in Ukraine, Portugal and other countries had in their classroom were stated as well.
This article analyses professional development, completed by 34 in-service ESP teachers of the Department of English for Engineering No. 1 at Igor Sikorsky KPI during March-December 2020. In total 3344.3 hours of professional teacher development were analysed. They were confirmed by certificates of attendance and completion. A significant rise in the number of hours ESP teachers of the Department of English for Engineering No. 1 at Igor Sikorsky KPI spend professionally developing was noticed compared to the years before the pandemic. Quantitative methods and statistical and mathematical processing were used to analyse the data. Nine main categories of professional development were outlined. ICT teacher skills (51.8 % hours), teaching approaches, methods and techniques (18.4 %), student and teacher assessment and evaluation (14.5 %) were distinguished as the three top categories of professional development during the COVID-19 era at the department. Together these categories embraced approximately 85 % of all time, spent on professional growth by ESP teachers of the Department of English for Engineering No. 1 at Igor Sikorsky KPI. Other six categories included: connections with other disciplines (6.6 %), academic publications and research issues (4.8 %), international teacher collaboration (2.1 %), student and teacher behavior problems (1.6 %), language issues (0.2 %), curriculum development (0.07 %). The results confirmed the high demand for learning new ICT tools, platforms, and Google services in March-December 2020, the high interest in teaching approaches, methods and techniques, which can be used during the COVID-19 era, and ways to assess and evaluate students’ and teacher’s performance. Webinars, online conferences and online courses turned out to be the most popular forms of professional development of ESP teachers at Igor Sikorsky KPI during March-December 2020. Another discovered trend was the variety of providers of trainings for ESP teachers during the COVID-19 era. The list of them included 37 different organisations, institutes and centers, such as Dinternal education, Training Center Linguist (Cambridge University Press), Educational project “Na urok”, The Ukrainian Institute of Information Technologies in Education, Oxford University Press, Macmillan Education and others
Abstract—The article describes an integrated art and English project for specific purposes on the topic “Academic Conferences” used for teaching future Ukrainian engineers in the winter of 2022. The project finished right before the war in Ukraine began. The sample size included 90 third-course future chemical engineers who study English for specific purposes. This study investigated the benefits of the project for future engineers, the role of the art practices used, as well as students’ perceptions of the project. Online questionnaires, observations and interviews were used. The results showed that the project improved students’ confidence in different conference-related skills and had a positive influence on the professional language skills development of future engineers. Art practices used in the project made learning memorable, contextualised and authentic. Art-related activities promoted professional communication and fostered the use of 21st-century skills such as cooperative, creative, critical and digital skills. The main hypothesis was supported and the project was effective due to the combination of project-based learning, art enhancement and integration, and specially chosen job-related art and ESP connections. The findings indicate an overwhelmingly positive response from the learners about this project and their interest in future art and ESP integrated projects. However, the study also revealed that students need additional support for developing XX cooperative, time management and writing skills as well as for working with authentic materials.
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