Looking for Kikan-Shido: are elements of it detectable in tertiary engineering pedagogy?

Comparative studies of year eight mathematics and science classes in schools around the world have identified Kikan-Shido as a regularly practiced pedagogy. This paper contends that Kikan-Shido in these instances does not result from any identifiable and unique secondary school teaching philosophy and it is likely to be present for the successful delivery of problem-based teaching activities, particularly in mathematics and/or sciences based syllabi. In order to test this hypothesis for engineering education, four active computer-based revision tutorials in a subject that formed part of some undergraduate engineering courses at a tertiary institution were audio recorded and then storyboarded for later analysis. The possible occurrences of Kikan-Shido activities in such a common tertiary learning environment were investigated by analysing the teacher-student verbal communication and then comparing the identified practiced pedagogy with some of those defined for the earlier mentioned global study in secondary schools. A recommendation is made to extend any follow-up studies to include the tabulation of Kikan-Shido 'activity patterns' which may be investigated for their suitability as a catalyst for the development of a metric for teaching quality.