Why I teach the way I teach

For millennia, we have searched for answers to questions about how and why the universe exists and evolves, and worked to improve the human condition. The problems — and our attempts to solve them — have driven the growth of human knowledge.

We have long understood the importance of producing and spreading knowledge. Since Plato’s time, the “Academy” has been a community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research. Today’s academy is the university.

The university contributes to society by pursuing education, learning, and research at the highest levels of excellence. Teaching and research are both vital activities in a successful university: one multiplies knowledge, and the other produces it.

Good teaching involves intuition, reflection, technique, and an understanding of cognitive, developmental, and social theories of learning. It is an interactive process that also involves motivation, communication, and a shared context of mutual respect.

It depends upon an informed research base, effective teaching strategies, and the sensibility to interact with the learner within a shared context of mutual understanding. A good teacher, therefore, understands and applies pedagogy effectively — and knows how to be a good researcher. Research activities and experience provide the real-world examples and challenges necessary to illustrate and motivate the seemingly theoretical concepts and methods taught in class.

Fundamentally, teaching in an engineering school should develop the capability to resolve complex problems through the creative application of scientific principles. That objective includes teaching students how to continue learning in an ever-changing technological world, and preparing them to behave as responsible citizens and ethical, professional engineers in today’s global society. An effective engineering teacher must be a practitioner, or have had real-life work experience.

At the basic level, the aim is to develop the student’s ability to apply the necessary mathematical tools, basic science, and fundamental engineering knowledge — to identify and apply the right tools and concepts to the actual problems they will confront in their professional lives. The emphasis is:

• Boosting the understanding of fundamental physical laws and principles and their application — first in abstract contexts, then in real-life experiences
• Translating word descriptions of engineering systems into solvable mathematical models
• Applying adequate methods to arrive at plausible, effective engineering solutions
• Using the results with awareness of, and respect for, society and humanity