Ingenieur Vol.72 ingenieur October 2017-FA3 | Page 51

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mode (intuitive/inductive/ sequential); show
how the theory or mode can be validated
and deduce its consequences (deductive/
sequential); and present applications
(sensing/deductive/sequential).
Use pictures, schematics, graphs, and
simple sketches liberally before, during, and
after the presentation of verbal material
(sensing/visual). Show films (sensing/
visual.) Provide demonstrations (sensing/
visual), hands-on, if possible (active).
Use computer-assisted instruction—
sensors respond very well to it (sensing/
active).
Do not fill every minute of class time
lecturing and writing on the board. Provide
intervals—however brief—for students
to think about what they have been told
(reflective).
Provide opportunities for students to do
something active besides transcribing
notes. Small-group brainstorming activities
that take no more than five minutes are
extremely effective for this purpose (active).
Assign some drill exercises to provide
practice in the basic methods being taught
(sensing/active/sequential) but do not
overdo them (intuitive/reflective/ global).
Also provide some open-ended problems
and exercises that call for analysis and
synthesis (intuitive/reflective/global).
Give students the option of co-operating
on homework assignments to the greatest
possible extent (active). Active learners
generally learn best when they interact with
others; if they are denied the opportunity to
do so they are being deprived of their most
effective learning tool.
Applaud creative solutions, even incorrect
ones (intuitive/global).
Talk to students about learning styles, when
advising them and in classes. Students
will be reassured to find their academic
difficulties may not all be due to personal
inadequacies. Explaining to struggling
learners how they learn most efficiently
may be an important step in helping them
reshape their learning experiences so that
they can be successful (all types). - Richard
M. Felder, Linda K. Silverman
LEARNING AND TEACHING STYLES IN
ENGINEERING EDUCATION
Active learners do not learn much in situations that
require them to be passive, and reflective learners
do not learn much in situations that provide no
opportunity to think about the information being
presented.
Global learners should be given the freedom
to devise their own methods of solving problems
rather than being forced to adopt the professor’s
strategy, and they should be exposed periodically
to advanced concepts before these concepts
would normally be introduced. - Richard M. Felder,
Linda K. Silverman
We tend to hear much more about splendours
returned than the ships that brought them or
the shipwrights. It has always been that way.
Even history books enamoured of the voyages of
Christopher Columbus do not tell much about the
builders of the Nina the Pinta and the Santa Maria
or about the principle of the caravel. Spacecraft
designers builders navigators and controllers are
examples of what science and engineering can
accomplish for well-defined peaceful purposes.
Those scientists and engineers should be role
models for an America seeking excellence and
international competitiveness. They should be on
our stamps. - Carl Sagan
Engineering is not merely knowing and being
knowledgeable, like a walking encyclopaedia;
engineering is not merely analysis; engineering is
not merely the possession of the capacity to create
elegant solutions to non-existent engineering
problems; engineering is practicing the art of
the organized forcing of technological change...
Engineers operate at the interface between
science and society - Dean Gordon Brown
Engineering is the profession in which a knowledge
of the mathematical and natural sciences gained
by study, experience, and practice is applied with
judgment to develop ways to utilize, economically,
the materials and forces of nature for the benefit
of mankind. - Engineers Council for Professional
Development
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