Scientific Initiation Project as Curricular

Internship Activity:
The relevance for undergraduate students in Civil
Engineering

Fernando Júnior Resende Mascarenhas1

1
fer.jr.resende@hotmail.com, Master student of School of Engineering of University of São Paulo at São
Carlos, São Carlos/Brazil

Abstract

In a world like the current one, where social, economic, cultural, educational, labor and
technological dynamics and transformations are constant and impressive; universities that care about
deeply for the most opportune and aligned formation of their students have to have not only your basic
tripod well structured (teaching, research and extension), but they also seek to give their students a
consistent theoretical knowledge with the needs and future aspirations of their professional lives. In
addition to this, Civil Engineers play a crucial role in the transformations related to the current society
demands and needs, for example, research and development of new materials, methods and techniques. In
order to have Civil Engineers who are well prepared and capable to act in the most appropriate way,
technically and ethically, students to have contact with the internship through activities in private
companies or in any public sector, or through extension and research activities. In this context, this article
will discuss the importance of the scientific initiation accepted as internship activity for the Civil
Engineering professional. Moreover, it will be pointed out the scientific initiation project that was
developed by the author of this paper during his undergraduate in Civil Engineering at the Pontifical
University Catholic of Minas Gerais (PUC Minas), in Brazil, from 2015 until 2016. To that end, it was
observed that research activities contribute to intellectual, logical reasoning, critical reading ability,
improved writing skills and orally speaking skills improvement, as well as they develop certain skills and
competencies of fundamental importance to the professional. Because it is an internship activity and,
above all, a project of scientific initiation, there is a range of knowledge and courses involved,
specifically, in this project: Reading and production of texts, Scientific and Technological Methodology,
Informatics II, Analytical Geometry and Linear Algebra, Calculus I, II and III, Theory of Structures I and
II and Structures of Concrete I. It is also highlighted the Advanced Structural Analysis course and the
subjects related to the thematic of the teaching-learning in Civil Engineering majors. Even though they
are not related to a specific course studied in the baccalaureate of Civil Engineering, they have been
constantly analyzed and studied due to their significance to the project. Thus, the relevance of such
research project for the formation of the student as a citizen and as a future teacher must be emphasised.
Furthermore, the experiences gained through the scientific initiation project are impacting in the
formation as professionals of the area. In short, if the objective of the student is to do masters and
doctorates, conducting research projects encourages and contributes significantly to the achievement of
this objective. Hence, the indisputable gain in the possibility of theoretical deepening, as well as the daily
living with the challenges, and the search for overcoming them, and the constant improvement of skills
and competences previously explained, show how relevant scientific initiation accepted as internship
activity is because it allows the conversion of practice and theory.

Keywords: Competences, Internship, Scientific Initiation Projects, Skills, Undergraduate in Civil

Engineering.