CDIO Project Approach to Design Polynesian Canoes

by First-year Engineering Students

MANUEL VARGAS
Facultad de Ingeniería y Tecnología, Universidad San Sebastian, Bellavista 7, Santiago, Chile. E-mail: manuel.vargas@uss.cl

MIGUEL ALFARO
Industrial Engineering Department, University of Santiago de Chile, Avenida Ecuador 3769, Santiago, Chile. E-mail:
miguel.alfaro@usach.cl

GUILLERMO FUERTES
Universidad de San Buenaventura, Colombia.
Facultad de Ingeniería, Ciencia y Tecnología, Universidad Bernardo O’Higgins, avenida Viel 1497, Ruta 5 Sur, Santiago, Chile. E-
mail: guillermo.fuertes@usach.cl

GUSTAVO GATICA
Facultad de Ingenieria, Universidad Andres Bello, Antonio Varas 880, Santiago de Chile, Chile. E-mail: ggatica@unab.cl

SEBASTIAN GUTIERREZ
Facultad de Economía y Negocios, Universidad Central de Chile, Lord Cochrane 417, Santiago, Chile. E-mail:
sebastian.gutierrez@ucentral.cl
Universidad Mayor, Chile

SOLEDAD VARGAS
Universidad Tecnológica de Chile INACAP, La Serena, Chile. E-mail: soledadvargasguzman@gmail.com

LEONARDO BANGUERA
Industrial Engineering Faculty, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Ecuador. E-mail: leonardo.bangueraa@ug.edu.ec

CLAUDIA DURAN
Faculty of Engineering, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Av. Pedro de Valdivia 425, Santiago, Chile. E-
mail:claudia.duran@uautonoma.cl

A design of a nautical project using the active learning method based on projects, was developed and implemented in
two universities in Chile. The main objective of this research is the search of learning methodologies stimulators of
the cooperative work of students in complex projects. The educational project uses the concurrent engineering
supported by an informatics platform and the following design technics: Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD),
Computer-aided Manufacturing (CAM), Finite Element Method (FEM) and Computer-aided Design (CAD). The
teams are grouped by capabilities and technical interests, working in the different stages of development of the
project of a nautical team for an international competition. The programming of the activities carried out by the
students include are the 3d digital design, the ergonomic studies, the computational simulations of fluids, the
resistance analysis of materials, the 3D prototype and the computer-aided manufacturing. Finally, this research
compares the conceive-design-implement-operate (CDIO) methodology with the methodology of lecture classes and
presents the learning results and the challenges of the experience.

Keywords: active learning method; computer-aided design; computational fluid dynamics; CDIO

1. Introduction The engineering school defines the need to

New engineering students must develop
technical competences and cognitive abilities
from the first year, to address their surrounding
requirements in a creative way, with simple,
innovative and eco-friendly solutions. The CDIO
methodology [1], allows the students to segment
a complex project into resourceful and
concurrent activities. This work method aims to
improve the reasoning abilities and technical
competences through team work, responsibility
and leadership associated with a university
project.
develop complex projects from first year,
through a collaborative approach between
students from different classes across the whole
degree. The challenge established at the
engineering school is to develop a competitive
team of university athletes for the South
American championship of polynesian canoes in
a one-year period. This sports discipline is
unknown to the engineering students. They are
responsible for the planning of the project,
including the conception, design, and
deployment of all nautical equipment.
 The research considered techniques and
procedures necessary to build a nautical
prototype. It is started with the ergonometric
study [2], digital models [3], fluid simulations
[4], [5], modelling of finite elements of the 3D
model and computer-aided manufacturing.
Subsequently, the building process considers the
use of compound materials [6], functionality
tests, design improvements and the training plan
to classify to the Polynesian Canoes South
American Championship 2016.
The challenges of first year students building a
complex project are limited to multiple causes,
(1) the accumulated experience from performed
challenges, (2) technical knowledge, (3)
development of personal and interpersonal
abilities, (4) perseverance before failure, and (5)
time management that are decisive factors for
realizing a project. These competences are
acquired through a continuous improvement
process throughout the engineering degree,
cooperating among peers and with the guidance
of the professors. For [7], the student is the
center of the learning process, through a learn-
by-doing model. This model ensures the
improvement of their competences to face their
professional life.
The student must acquire skills and
competences with diverse characteristics, the
ability to perform in complex, multicultural and
multidisciplinary environments supported by
advanced technical knowledge allows training
the students for their work and personal future
[8]–[13].
This article presents an active learning
methodology between engineering students,
disintegrating a highly-complex project into
smaller-sized problems that contribute to the
learning results of the participating classes of this
project. The methodology impact is reviewed
through a comparative survey among a teaching
model master classes and the proposed CDIO
model. The survey measures the main topics
defined in the Tuning project for Latin America
and the CDIO methodology. Finally, the
methodology analysis allows us to define the
benefits and disadvantages of the application of
this methodology in first-year engineering
students.
2. Materials and methods
The cooperation among students for [14], is a
powerful work tool in complex environments
and develops learning abilities and professional
skills on students. The traditional teaching
methods limit the movement spaces of the
student, [14] indicate the dramatic change of the
learning environment and the requirements for
the participants at the classroom with active
methodology techniques. The students'
perceptions during the development of the course
through the PBL techniques are opposed, they
accept and reject the method; the analysis of the
experiences allows to visualize the benefits and
to propose a continuous improvement of the
learning process.
The teaching of engineering and sciences
through the creation of a functional product of
CDIO should improve using the main
characteristics of the POPBL methodology; (1)
small groups of students work most of the time
without the presence of a tutor, (2) the addressed
tasks are realistic, professional and of a great
magnitude, (3) the tasks only cover a small part
of the contents of the class, (4) reading is
important to deepen the technical content, (5) the
group work is oriented to a product, (6) the
learning results are new knowledge and abilities,
(7) the division of the tasks allows to get better
results on the products, (8) the improvement of
the abilities is strongly interrelated with other
courses from the training, (9) the students are
focused on the project work and less on the class,
(10) the individual responsibility is critical for
the development of the project, and (11) the final
product developed by the team is assessed [15]–
[17].
The application of the CDIO methodology
transforms the professor role, this is the guide of
the work groups. [18] points the need to perform
great scope work focused on the student, with
collaborative work groups, in order to solve real
problems. The results of the learning and skills
that are looked for in self-management,
teamwork, leadership, time management,
communication and problem-solving and the
ability to use technology-based tools [19]–[22].
This model allowed to assign responsibilities
to different groups of students, who are
transformed into active actors of their education
[23]–[25].
The project is addressed according to the
CDIO technique to ease the job, disintegrating
the project in delimited problems to facilitate
teamwork, gather the specialization of the tasks
and increase the depth of the content applied by
the teams (Fig. 1) [26]–[28].
The final objective of the project was the
participation of a team of engineering students
on the South American championship of
Polynesian canoes during 2016. The project was
addressed from the engineering perspective,
developing (1) the design and engineering of the
product, (2) the ergonomic studies, (3) the
engineering of a process, (4) the prototype
construction and (5) the training plan for athletic
students (Table 1) [29]–[31]
 the prototype and to start a round of questions
between senior professionals and the student
teams.

Table 1. Activities assigned by course

Development Years of
Activities Credits
phase Study
Conceive State of the art 1° 0,5
Canoes team Transversal 0,5
Ergonometry
Transversal
Design study 0,5
3D Computer
1°-5°
Design 4
Finite Element
1°
Fig. 1. Methodology applied to the project. Model 0,5
Computer fluid
1° - 3°
design 0,5
During the annual planning, the first-year class Design training
of Introduction to Engineering was considered, Transversal
plan 1
supported by third and fifth year students of the Rapid
1°
mathematical modelling and project electives. Implement prototyping 1
Modeling 1°-3° 0,5
The activities were established on a schedule Modeling
with weekly deliveries of convergent activities. 1°-3°
composite 10
This model of work allowed performing multiple Computer
1°-3°
control (CNC) 1
parallel activities, speeding the project terms for
Assembly 1° 2
the final competition [32], [33].The project was Contracting
Transversal
segmented in concurrent problems developed per coach 5
the CDIO initiative. The student teams (3 to 5 Operate Prototype test Transversal 2
Improving
people) could choose the problems based on their Transversal
design 1
technical abilities, skills, and intellectual Sea training test Transversal 10
interests. Championship Transversal 8
The assessment model considered a matrix
activity with learning results for each problem. 2.2. Design of the product
The volume of the activities allowed the students
to choose the performance areas according to During the design of the product, the product
their own interests and technical abilities. The engineering processes and the engineering
assurance of the learning results of each student process, CAD, Computer Fluid Design (CFD)
was achieved through the compliance of the and Finite Element Modeling (FEM) computer
learning factors [34], [35]. techniques were used. The student teams defined
The competences assessed in the project their design priorities and worked collaboratively
correspond to the Tuning model for Latin between teams. The results of this stage allowed
America. The study performed by established the the students to (1) collaboratively compete to
relationships between the CDIO models and the obtain a high-benefit design, (2) establish new
Tuning project for Latin America with the quality standards for the construction with
Bologna European model. compound materials for polynesian canoes, (3)
evaluate hydrodynamic modifications regarding
2.1. Conception of the Product the standard model, and (4) improve the
ergonomic benefits (Fig. 2).
The conception of the project uses the quality For the development of the projects, the use of
function deployment (QFD) tool to establish the computer-assisted technologies (CAx) is
needs of the athletes. The work teams presented required. Cax have commercial licenses,
their concepts to the consulting professors group, freeware and open source. The students used the
specialists in the naval design area, ergonomics, FreeCAD license (open source parametric 3D
production and compound materials. modeller), multiplatfom (Windows, Mac and
The preliminary concepts and ideas analysis Linux), with the computer tools finite element
allowed to start the design of the equipment analysis (FEA) and computational fluid
using computer aided design 3D (CAD). The dynamics (CFD).
model allowed to visualize the first blueprints of

Fig. 2. Design, construction and implementation of the
product.
2.3. Construction of the Product
The surveying team delivered the numeric design
to establish the Computer Aided Manufacturing
(CAM) protocol for the construction of the mold
ribs. This stage was characterized by a vast
number of man-hours of manual labour. The
team’s superposition allowed for a quick
advance of the main structure.
The following development established the
need to incorporate a compound material
specialist to improve the construction abilities of
the students. This process established a master-
apprentice traditional model, where the art of
manufacturing with compound materials requires
a very slow learning curve, to ensure the
productive processes.
2.4. Implementation of the Product
The implementation of the rower team
corresponded to a student group ready to work
for a year with long trainings and daily repetition
during the week, vastly exceeding the academic
load of the subject. This extraordinary
commitment and effort from the students
established new work standards at the
engineering faculty
The skills to develop on athlete students are:
responsibility, teamwork and leadership. Due to
the importance of this event, no nonattendance,
lateness or unsportsmanlike behaviors were
allowed, strengthening the feeling of belonging
of the students on the project with the academic
unit.
The faculty delivered the tools and financial
resources to train in the University facilities; the
athlete students performed the sports
management of the project, together with their
coach.
The results obtained on this stage of the study
are sustained by the base principles of
engineering. Firstly, the definition of the
problem, its objectives, scopes, and limitations.
Secondly, the establishment of the technologies
and the work teams needed to plan all activities
and milestones of the project. Thirdly, the
development of the activities on schedule and
budget defined on the work plan.
The costs associated with the project are
divided into three: (1) man hours of engineering,
assumed cost by students and professors, (2) cost
of CAx systems, the systems were selected for
their open-source characteristic and (3) value of
the materials for the construction of the
equipments US $ 7,000.
2.5. Survey Design
The study seeks to develop the technical
capabilities and abilities defined on the Tuning
competences table for Latin America. On [36],
the generic competences between Latin America
and European Union are analysed for the field of
engineering. Based on that study, it was possible
to relate the competences for of the CDIO
initiative with the competences for Latin
America of the Tuning project.
The survey design allows measuring
organization competences of the student, depth
of the research, teamwork, study skills in foreign
language, leadership, work autonomy and project
development.
The research uses the CDIO initiative to
measure the learning and competences results
identified as critical for education of new
engineers. This initiative defines the goals and
objectives set as Syllabus CDIO and are
implemented on the four levels described below.
 Disciplinary Knowledge and Reasoning,
defined by three sub-areas: level of knowledge
in math and sciences; engineering grounds;
advanced engineering knowledge,
methodology and tools.
 Personal and Professional Skills and Attributes,
consisting on five sub-areas: analytic reasoning
and problem solving; knowledge discovery;
investigation and experimentation; systemic
thought; attitudes, thought and learning; ethics,
equity and other responsibilities.
 Interpersonal Skills: teamwork and
communication, defined by three sub-areas:
teamwork, communications, and
communications in foreign languages.
 Conceiving, Designing, Implementing and
Operating Systems in the Corporate, Societal
and Environmental Context: the innovation
process defined by eight sub-areas: external
context, societal and environmental; corporate
and business context; conception, engineering
and systems management; design;
implementation; operation; engineering
leadership; entrepreneurship.
3. Result and discussion
The interaction between professionals and
student groups strengthened the bonds and
responsibilities of students among their teams;
they were responsible for the design and
construction decisions of the nautical team, the
productive process, the quality assurance, the
prototype tests and the creation of the sports
team.
3.1. Survey Results
The survey was performed in the end of the
project carried out during 2016. It used a series
of questions qualified by the 5-point Likert scale,
and seeks to compare the different variables
between the projects developed during 2016
using the master class learning methodology
with the execution of individual projects versus
the project carried out during 2016 using the
CDIO methodology. The sample of 80 students
did not undergo variations during the study term
and it is anonymous. The quantitative analysis of
the averages of the final notes between the
courses of teaching master classes and the CDIO
initiative, is carried out using the hypothesis of
means of two samples. The hypothesis of the job
is rejected; the average of notes using CDIO is
greater than teaching master classes method. The
results are shown on Table 2.
Table 2. Research survey
Question Mean
Did you apply your abilities of abstraction,
analysis, and synthesis during the development of 3,0
the project?
During the development of the project, did you
delve into knowledge and experience of the study 2,9
and profession field?
During the development of the project, did you
improve the way you communicate in another 2,0
language?
Fig. 3. Average of CDIO syllabus levels of the two proposed methodologies.
During the development of the project, did you
develop your abilities to use technology and 3,2
communications?
During the development of the project, did you
increase your ability to search, process and analyze 3,1
information from several sources?
During the development of the project, did you
increase your ability to motivate and work around a 3,3
common goal?
During the development of the project, do you feel
3,1
your ability to work independently improved?
During the development of the project, do you
think your ability to formulate and manage projects 3,2
improved?
The comparative study between the two
methodology grouped on the main levels of
Syllabus CDIO shows: (1) on disciplinary
knowledge and reasoning, the students show
support for the teacher master-apprentice model.
They are not used to the self-management of
their schedules and studies, they consider the
traditional model to be more apt to gain
theoretical knowledge, (2) on personal skills and
attributes, the proposed model provides more
techniques and competences to face their future
work life; (3) on interpersonal skills, the starts
are hard for students that are not prepared to
work as a team. The learning is continuous and,
finally, they can contribute their individualities
to the team. Lastly, on (4) creativity and ideas
and projects development, the model allows the
students to feel like an important part of the
continuation of the project. The obtained result is
described on Fig 3.
Teachers during the development of the
project using the CDIO initiative, detected an
increase in work hours outside the classroom
(10% respect to the total hours declared by the
course program). The work times of academics
with students outside the classroom are mainly
associated with the learning of CAx and
engineering knowledge techniques.
4. Conclusions
The CDIO initiative was applied on first year
students for the execution of the Polynesian
canoes project, in a self-sufficient way with the
guidance of professors that are specialists in
different areas and leaded by students from
upper courses. The students formed cooperative
work teams, achieving the final objective of the
project: the participation on the South American
championship.
The first-year engineering students were able
to develop design techniques
(QFD/CAD/CAM), simulation (CFD/FEM) and
construction through the guidance of students of
higher and professional courses. This
multidisciplinary work allows first year students
to quickly join the management of complex
projects in Engineering.
The model proved to exceed the traditional
model for great magnitude project; most of the
students complied with the due dates of the
assigned tasks, demonstrating an appropriate
level of work and commitment with the project.
At the beginning, the students felt lost when
facing a new work methodology; the professor
guidance allowed securing their curiosity and
interests to highlight areas selected by them,
providing support to other teams, and to reach
the finish line as a big team.
CDIO driving force might be copied in other
complex project for different study areas; this
contributes to the development of personal
skills, teamwork, leadership, autonomy, and
personal initiative.
Finally, the university directives established an
economic contribution to develop the active
learning methodology in other Engineering
courses. Mainly support was given to two
projects: a prototype of automated polynesian
canoe using artificial intelligence and
development of a solar autonomous naval drone.
The reuse of knowledge and techniques learned
by students and teachers allows to increase the
technological defiance for higher engineering
courses, reducing the learning time in the teams
of students.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of
interests regarding the publication of this paper.
Acknowledgments
This research has been supported by DICYT
(Scientific and Technological Research Bureau)
of the University of Santiago of Chile (USACH)
and Department of Industrial Engineering.
The authors gratefully acknowledge
contribution and technological support of
Dr.Wolfgang Stotz, School of Marine Sciences,
University Catholic of North.
The authors thankful as well to the Directors of
the University of San Buenaventura for the
resources for this work.
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Manuel Vargas, PhD Engineering Sciences, Industrial Engineering Mention; Master in Industrial
Engineering, University of Santiago de Chile; Industrial Civil Engineer, University of Santiago de Chile.
Researcher of Industrial Engineering Departement, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad San Sebastián.
Member and researcher "Laboratory of management in information and communications technologies"
(GETIC, acronym in spanish), University of Santiago of Chile. Research areas: operational research,
dynamical systems and education research.

Miguel Alfaro, PhD in Automatic Production from the University Henri Poincare, Nancy, France; Master
in Engineering Sciences, mention Economic Engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of
Chile. Director of the Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Santiago de Chile. Research
areas: nonlinear dynamical systems, artificial intelligence in manufacturing systems and agent based
modeling systems.

Guillermo Fuertes, PhD. Engineering Sciences, Mention Industrial Engineering, from the University of
Santiago de Chile; Master in Engineering Sciences, mention Industrial Engineering, from the University
of Santiago de Chile; Diploma in instrumentation and industrial control, from the University of Santiago
de Chile; Agroindustrial Engineering of the National University of Colombia. Member and researcher
"laboratory of management in technologies of information and communications" (GETIC, acronym in
spanish), University of Santiago of Chile; Teaching researcher University of San Buenaventura; associate
researcher Faculty of Engineering Science and technology, Universidad Bernardo O'Higgins. Research
areas: packaging and intelligent systems, nanotechnology, logistics, dynamic systems and Education
Research.
Gustavo Gatica, PhD in engineering sciences with automatic mention by the University of Santiago de
Chile. He is currently a professor in the faculties of engineering at the University of Andrés Bello and
Santiago de Chile. His research interests consider the design and implementation of exact and heuristic
algorithms for problems of combinatorial optimization and development of computational applications
for Chilean companies.

Sebastian Gutierrez, Director of Research of the Faculty of Economics and Business of "Universidad
Central de Chile". Doctor in Administration Sciences, in the area of investigation of the International
enterprise, doctoral thesis Fondecyt Regular. He obtained a Scholarship for an Experimental Design
Course, Nuffield, Oxford, UK and for further training in entrepreneurship education, Babson College,
USA. He has 10 years of experience as a pre and post-graduate university professor.

Soledad Vargas, Master in Education, Design Mention; Bachelor of Fine Arts, Universidad Finis Terrae.
Researcher at Universidad Tecnológica de Chile INACAP. Research areas: design and education
research.

Leonardo Banguera Arroyo, PhD in Engineering Sciences, Industrial Engineering, University of

Santiago de Chile; Master in Integrated Management System and Industrial Engineer at the University of
Guayaquil. Professor of Industrial Engineering, University of Guayaquil, Ecuador. Research areas:
Reverse Logistics, Supply Chain and Sustainability.

Claudia Durán San Martín graduated in Industrial Civil Engineering from the University of Chile,
Chile in 1999. She obtained her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering Sciences at the University of
Santiago de Chile in 2011 and 2015 respectively. His areas of research interest are data science and
management decision making between private companies and public organizations. During this time, she
has participated in multi-disciplinary research projects have been developed in some local companies in
the mining, energy and services sectors. Dra. Durán has written several articles for conferences and
journals related to electricity, electronics and computing. She is currently a professor of the Industrial
Civil Engineering carreer at Universidad Autónoma de Chile.