@Goboise
There is a long standing attitude in the culture of “engineering” schools which faculty at WPI called the “boot camp” approach to education when I was there. The educational program they were designing at the time, with a sizable NSF grant, was largely directed toward projects and the “group thinking” aspect of engineering design work. It seemed that the old “boot camp” approach bred more of a competitive than a cooperative attitude. WPI has spent a lot of time and design effort developing team collaboration. This is an ongoing process which has not stopped for fifty years. They even have an on-going summer institute to share this work with other universities and colleges around the world.
Another important focal point in the WPI program involves interdisciplinary thinking in a project setting. We call this the IQP which integrates a special project with the social sciences and is often off campus at one of over 45 sites around the world. Participation costs for this off campus study is covered by an automatic $5,000 credit for all students.
Students study three courses per seven weeks for the equivalent of 9 semester hours. This translates to 18 semester hours in the humanities organized usually around a theme. Although a STEM University they have a very impressive full symphony orchestra and most take their humanities seriously. In addition the IQP integrates social science coursework to prepare for the project design. Team members will usually be from different majors. They want students to develop an open recognition that the application of knowledge is interdisciplinary.
The third project activity focuses in small team projects in their major.
Music is taken very seriously in this relatively small STEM University. They have a full symphony Orchestra and no music majors. This means to STEM students get to play. Many minor in music and they have a performance minor. Hear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITEMXrp-wls
WPI '67