Abstract:

The development of disciplinary competencies linked to the use of 3D printing, under the pedagogical strategy of Project Based Learning (PBL) frames the skills, knowledge, and attitudes employed by students of industrial design. The objective of this study is to understand from the detailed description of the students' personal constructs, how the practice of 3D printing incorporated into the ABP, develops in these disciplinary competences linked to the use of this technology, in a changing productive context, where The influence of digital manufacturing is growing, in different sectors of the industry. This study uses a mixed research model with a qualitative dominant status, which combines the simultaneous application of a quantitative and a qualitative instrument for the same phase of the study (Onwuegbuzie and Leech, 2006). As a quantitative instrument, the Likert scale is using to assess students' attitudes towards the use of 3D printing, in the product development method (Ulrich and Eppinger, 2013). As a qualitative instrument, a questionnaire with open questions was used to map students in three dimensions, to know (know), attitudes (know how to) and practice (know how to do) with 3D printing articulated to the PBL. For the triangulation of the instruments, the study defines categories of analysis to group the data according to the original writing and expression expressed by the industrial design students (Dellinger and Leech, 2007). The research sample adds thirty Industrial Design university students, who practice 3D printing incorporated into the PBL, within their study program. As a research result, find that the use of the I3D adding to the pedagogical strategy the ABP constitutes a disruptive learning experience, which facilitates students to practice the development of a product with freedom in the unrestricted exploration of the form and function in various materials.