ADOPTION AND CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTING THE PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING METHOD IN PRODUCTION ENGINEERING COURSES
Problem- and Project-Based Learning has been adopted in engineering education because of its potential to foster professional knowledge and the development of Soft Skills in students. This method enables students to develop skills such as creativity, communication, teamwork and problem solving. These skills are being widely demanded by the labor market, which is undergoing profound changes due to the emergence of new digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Robotics. This technological revolution, which is gaining speed in the 21st century, changes the value chain of companies, creating new business models and new work functions that demand from individuals the ability for continuous learning. Despite the wide recognition of the PBL method as an alternative to train engineering students to the demands of the labor market, the range of variations of this method as well as the implementation challenges are still not definitively documented in the academic literature. As a result, this research aims to provide an overview of how Problem-Based Learning is adopted in Brazilian federal universities, outlining the motivations for implementing this method as well as its main challenges from the point of view of teachers. For this, a descriptive and quantitative research will be conducted and the results may be useful both for researchers in the area and for professors who intend to implement this teaching method in their universities.