Technological Resources and Problem-Solving Methods to Foster a Positive Attitude Toward Formative Research in Engineering Students

Formative research, within the context of the pedagogical function of research, employs investigative teaching methods and practices commonly used in universities. However, these methods have largely shown limited effectiveness, as only a minority of students choose to pursue research work to earn their university degree. Additionally, there is a restricted use of technological tools in the development of research-related activities. With this problem in mind, the present study aims to propose the use of technological resources and the problem-solving method to foster a positive attitude toward formative research among first-year engineering students at a public university in Peru. The classroom interventions involved developing investigative activities based on the four phases of the problem-solving method: understanding the problem, developing a plan, executing the plan, and reviewing the solution. During these activities, students used an Arduino board along with sensors, actuators, and block-based programming to address real-world problems in their communities, such as in agriculture, livestock, environment, and education. Following the classroom interventions, students’ attitudes toward formative research were statistically evaluated across several dimensions: satisfaction and enjoyment of research, conceptual appropriation, learning behavior, systematic exploration, and perceived skills. The results show that students’ perception of their attitude toward formative research is predominantly high or very high. This indicates that the proposal to use technological resources and the four-phase problem-solving method is effective in fostering a positive attitude toward formative research among engineering students. Thus, the proposed approach would benefit engineering students by applying it across various courses within their professional program.