An Exploratory Study on Teaching Methods of Professional Course for Teachers from Engineering Colleges of Universities of Science and Technology

This study aims to gain an insight into the teacher’s pedagogical content knowledge and teaching implementation from engineering colleges of universities of science and technology (UST). A total of 32 domestic public and private UST with engineering colleges were investigated. Through questionnaires, the pedagogical approaches used in the teaching of professional courses engineering college teachers were surveyed. Frequency distribution was adopted to describe teachers’ choices of certain instructional approaches in practice. The χ2test for independence was then used to explore whether significant differences can be found in terms of instructional methods chosen. Findings show that “didactic instruction” was most commonly used as professional course methods by the teachers; the “drama/play” was the least commonly used. The χ2test for independence was then conducted, deriving results as follows: topic production commonly adopted in the fields of electrical / electronic engineering and design; team teaching occasionally used in those of information engineering; computer-aided instruction frequently used by mechanical, energy and civil engineering as well as architecture and design.