Heterogeneous ability-centered team building to aid enquiry based learning in engineering classroom

Enquiry-based student-centered learning activities in engineering classrooms may lose its focus and success if the activities in classroom are biased due to the failure in forming mixed-ability oriented teams or groups of students. This paper proposes a technology driven team-building methodology to enhance enquiry-based learning in the conventional engineering classrooms, which is referred to as Heterogeneous Ability-Centered Team Building (H-ACT-B) method. The HACT-B method guarantees mixed-ability based team or group formation in classroom to promote effective communication, collaboration and critical thinking based on the programmed evaluation of individual student’s aptitude. The proposed team building method is expected to aid the individual student and the team or group to ensure their progress toward achieving the common team task efficiently. Moreover, the study is strongly formulated by considering the useful insights about the current team building practices and methods by conducting survey among the engineering faculty and students.