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Unread 07-11-2011, 13:45
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Re: Why Science Majors Change Their Minds (It’s Just So Darn Hard)

Quote:
Originally Posted by ebarker View Post
Sorry - Woodie beat you to it, here jump to the 26:00 mark to see super-produced educational material.
Thanks! I'm not at all surprised that Woodie is still trailblazing. He is one of my heroes. His work with 270 shaped my thinking even while a high school student. His comments about equations and their relevance (at the 15:15 mark in the referenced video) are spot on. Equations without insight do not make an engineer. While there has been some progress over the last couple of decades in utilizing technology the traditional framework remains mostly in place. I suspect this has a lot more to do with organization momentum than critical thinking and problem solving though.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesBrown View Post
This is a great idea but it does lack to some extent in practicality, There is already a ton of information to cover in a semester, adding in these types of projects (in addition to what already exists, I completed at least one design project a semester while at RPI) just increases work load.
I wasn't intentionally proposing more work load but rather suggesting a change in the current work load and evaluation mechanism. The games don't have to be as elaborate as in FRC or 2.007. During my time at college, I only had one course that did this. It was an industrial engineering course that was outside my major that I took because the professor was one of the best in the world. The game showed the complications of supply and demand on the production process and was definitely a motivator for me.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesBrown View Post
There are already schools and professors that do this, I spent a ton of time sitting in the student union watching vidoes of my professors solving equations as well as downloading lectures from simmilar classes at MIT, CMU and Stanford that were available online. Looking through iTunesU can provide some incredible resources. I do agree these videos are extrmely helpful especially when you have a professor who can't communicate clearly (Ian and Chris might be able to back me up if they took Diff Eq with Boudjelkha, the Schmidtt calculus videos were a life saver)
Glad to hear this is catching on. Curious to hear your feedback on what the impact would be if the traditional lecture were removed and replaced with these video resources.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesBrown View Post
Engineering is inherently difficult, it requires a firm grasp of advanced math and science, as well as a practical knowledge of how real world situations influence the mathematical models. Engineering is jsut not for every one, it is hard and college is alot more fun when you don't spend hours studying or in lab. I definitely didn't go out and party as much in college as I could have with an easier major but I still had a great time and made great friends, and now that I am collecting a paycheck as an engineer every 2 weeks I can assure you that the work is worth it.
I've had the good fortune to have a complex engineering job which over the past couple decades has leveraged the vast majority of my college coursework in some form or fashion. I am thus painfully aware of the distinction between abstract theory and the practical implementation of theory. After mentoring numerous young engineers fresh from college, I've realized that this less than smooth transition was not unique nor has the problem gotten much better over time. Hopefully other engineering jobs don't experience this but it sure would be nice not to have to teach each and every new engineer what their coursework really meant when applied to this particular domain.
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