After a cold day of fall hiking, failing to build a fire can make any camping group become engaged learners about the fundamental components of a campfire. My first formal introduction to teaching came from my participation in the Boy Scouts, where I taught camping and life skills to my younger peers. Throughout my education, I have come to approach teaching in the classroom similarly to teaching on the trail. My core teaching ambitions are to prepare students for the world of engineering by teaching strong theoretical backgrounds, demonstrating applications, and guiding students through failures along the way. As an engineering teacher, I am in a unique position to enable students to see the truth and application of science. My approach to teaching has been shaped by my experiences in the engineering classroom, as a practicing engineer in industry and as a volunteer leader with scouting.
Just as a good plan is fundamental for a successful camping trip, theoretical knowledge is the foundation of a successful engineering education. Preparing students with sound theoretical foundations are critical for enabling these future professionals to the fully grasp the big picture of engineering application. In my experience as a teaching assistant for an infrastructure nondestructive evaluation course, presenting the theoretical background content before approaching the application-specific content improves student’s confidence and performance. Building the conceptual foundation first enables students to prepare mentally for the additional challenges of exploring practical applications. Just as with camping, knowing your equipment before you step into the wilderness is essential.
A demonstration is just as critical to effective learning as preparation. A simple task, such as erecting a tent while camping, can seem daunting without proper demonstration. I was fortunate in my education to have a professor, Dr. Foster, who practiced a demonstration method of teaching mechanics through interactive group derivations. At the start of each class, he would also briefly review through demonstration the previous lecture’s derivation. The combination of demonstration and review considerably sped up the pace of learning new mathematical operators and enabled useful in-depth discussions with the entire class. As a result of this positive experience, I try to schedule time before the start of my teaching to informally review through demonstrating previous complex topics with students who are present. I have found this brief period of discussion to be an excellent informal self-assessment tool for gauging the pace and depth of content of the course.
My last core goal of teaching is to guide students to productive failure. Often this is the most difficult component of instruction for a teacher to fulfill. During college, I had the pleasure of being a volunteer chaperone of twelve fourteen-year-olds for a 60-mile backpacking trek. The group was understandably new to navigation concepts and unfamiliar with self-leadership. Guiding their learning often required traversing the wrong trail or allowing the group to challenge their own leadership decisions. My instructional rule was to guide by only asking questions. At the completion of the trip, I could see substantial growth in each participant’s ability to not only navigate but also be compassionate about others’ ways of leading the group. Several of the participants have grown into strong leaders in society, and have shared with me that this trip was the beginning of their self-dependence. Similarly, engineering students need to be making mistakes while they are learning. My intention for this core goal of my teaching is to enable my students to become the leaders of tomorrow who can engineer beyond today’s limitations.
My experience in instructing groups throughout my life has evolved from teaching Boy Scouts how to erect tents to teaching engineering students how to use new ultrasonic methods for bridge deck inspection. However, the fundamental goal has remained the same: build theoretically sound confident leaders of tomorrow. Each component of my teaching philosophy combines to enrich the final product of a well-educated, well-prepared engineer. Tomorrow’s engineering leaders need to be literate in the theory of physical sciences, experienced in practical applications, and humble enough to question their own mistakes. Future engineers strong in these attributes will continue to make society more safe and efficient.
