A lot of emphasis is placed on learning how to learn. Sometimes I think that we’re learning more about how to teach (unfortunately sometimes teachers teach how to teach by showing how not to). This really came to my attention when we read a piece in STS (science, technology, and society) class about how engineers should be taught. It was written for teachers and stressed things like experiential learning. Notably it did not stress reading pieces about how to learn. In fact it didn’t even mention that.
The next time this came to my attention was in engineering class when we learned how the values of society can help shape technology. We had spent probably two weeks in STS learning about values. We learned the same material in a 30 minute lecture in a more interactive way that challenged us to come up with values. At this point I decided that STS could be taught in a much better manner. Maybe by following the suggestions given in the piece they made us read for their own class.
Engineers need to learn through doing. While some science and math background are good, the practice of engineering can teach many of the philosophies of engineering in a way that will be much more applicable. Proof of this is the testimony of the many transfer students in my STS class. This is the first year that transfer students are required to take the introductory level STS course. Boy are they unlucky. They have two years of engineering experience and are all of a sudden places in a class where they have to learn the philosophy behind engineering. After two years of engineering classes, they already know all of these issues because they’ve come up in random engineering projects. Therefore they not only know the information that we’re in STS to learn, they know that there’s a better way to learn it: through experience.
A couple of comments on the last paragraph - many professionals learn by doing - but dont they also learn through other means, too? Reading, listening, etc.?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear you think the transfer students are unlucky. It's possible they might actually get a deeper understanding of the topics discussed because of the past learning that they've had. What do you think about that?
Yes, they learn through other means too. But if something can be taught through application in less time than it can be taught through discussion and it will stick better, than that topic should be taught through application.
ReplyDeleteThe transfer students themselves have claimed that STS is wasting their time.