Transforming turbomachinery education: A constructivist approach with an interactive PBL dashboard

Abstract

This study implements a novel pedagogical approach that leverages Constructivist Learning Theory through a Problem-Based Learning (PBL) framework, scaffolded by an interactive Excel dashboard. The dashboard enables students to solve fundamental equations, visualise velocity triangles and component geometry in real-time, and conduct sensitivity analyses. A quasi-experimental study comparing cohorts from 20242 (traditional method) and 20252 (PBL intervention) found that the new method led to statistically significant improvements (p < 0.001) in higher-order cognitive and professional Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs). Students demonstrated profound gains in analysis, conceptual design, teamwork, and presentation skills. Furthermore, the intervention led to more consistent performance across the cohort, as evidenced by significantly lower standard deviations, indicating a more equitable learning environment. A critical insight was the discrepancy between high student confidence and variable self-assessment accuracy, underscoring the value of triangulated evaluation. This constructivist-driven PBL framework effectively bridges theoretical knowledge and practical design intuition, transforming students into proactive, industry-ready engineers.