I have never thought of the humanities in the ways that you have. I do agree that those courses teach you to think in multiple perspectives. As I have experience with most engineering students, they view those courses as a checkbox on a list. They come into those course with the attitude of I am just here to get an A. The challenge is how do we get these students to think understand the skills that they have learned in those courses and apply it to other areas. Learning and applying skills for multiple realms is what make an individual successful.
Author: Khang Pham
Comment on Parallel lines by Khang Pham
I really like your story! You are correct that the tools that are available to use make us think differently. I have a story similar to yours. I used to cook steaks in Teflon pans, but I never really got a nice sear on a steak as a cast iron pan or a grill. After a bit of investigating I discovered what sear actually does, and fundamentally mimic the different variables that are needed to get a good sear on the meat. In relation to how the internet affect the way that we think, we have to understand the underlying cause and effect of each situation. Once we have those understand we can utilize each tools to the full advantage. The ways that we use the tools changes the way that we think.
Comment on Review old things with a new eye by Khang Pham
I admired that you are able to reflect upon your experiences with both a passive and active educational system. I know that I have taken some courses that are more passive. I learned in these courses that memorizing the ways of how things are done will allow you to do very well in those courses. However, when I took the subsequent courses, I cannot apply what I have learned in the previous courses because I only memorized how to do something rather than truly understanding it. I feel like I can remember something better if I try to understand it rather than memorizing it.
Comment on Breaking the Ice by Khang Pham
Thank you for sharing. Initially, I did not think I knew what my teaching voice is. After reading your post I realized that when I first started to teach, I somewhat have my “teaching voice” already developed. I was a mentor for almost my entire time in college, and I realized that teaching a classroom is very similar to what you would do when you mentor a group of people. The main difference is that instructing a classroom is a bit more structured than a mentoring role. However, I have view that my class is like a team, and we try to tackle problems together. I used a lot of the experiences that I learned from working in team to lead my students to success.
Comment on Breaking the Ice by Khang Pham
Thank you for sharing. Initially, I did not think I knew what my teaching voice is. After reading your post I realized that when I first started to teach, I somewhat have my “teaching voice” already developed. I was a mentor for almost my entire time in college, and I realized that teaching a classroom is very similar to what you would do when you mentor a group of people. The main difference is that instructing a classroom is a bit more structured than a mentoring role. However, I have view that my class is like a team, and we try to tackle problems together. I used a lot of the experiences that I learned from working in team to lead my students to success.
Comment on From Cooking to Becoming a Chef by Khang Pham
I really like how you compared teaching to cooking! I find it very true that both activities are part art and part science. For some aspects of teaching you have to follow a set of rules, while in other aspects you just have to feel of how your students are understanding the material. Your last paragraph is on point! You want to teach you students to take the facts you have lay out for them, find new and apply it as well as finding new facts themselves.
Comment on The Bright Side of Competition Projects by Khang Pham
I have to agree with you that I also learned a lot more by doing projects than by lectures. I feel the projects force the students to interact with each other and apply the knowledge they have learn to a problem. I feel that it breaks a larger class down into smaller group, as not everyone is comfortable discussing ideas in front of a large audience. I feel that I remember the information better from doing a project. However, I feel that project based courses are very hard for engineering because there are so many different topics that are covered in an undergraduate engineering curriculum.
Comment on The Bright Side of Competition Projects by Khang Pham
I have to agree with you that I also learned a lot more by doing projects than by lectures. I feel the projects force the students to interact with each other and apply the knowledge they have learn to a problem. I feel that it breaks a larger class down into smaller group, as not everyone is comfortable discussing ideas in front of a large audience. I feel that I remember the information better from doing a project. However, I feel that project based courses are very hard for engineering because there are so many different topics that are covered in an undergraduate engineering curriculum.
Comment on Four things discussion is good for by Khang Pham
I have to agree with you that discussion is a much better way to teach and learn. The hard thing about having discussions is that it requires the student to be at a level where the can respond quickly to what is being talked about. They have to be actively engaged in order to contribute to the conversation. This discussion model is a bit hard for the technical classes, where the students are different levels and have not “experience enough”. I know for me, it was hard to ask effective questions in undergraduate engineering course, but when I worked for about two years, I had much more insight to contribute to the discussion.
Comment on Four things discussion is good for by Khang Pham
I have to agree with you that discussion is a much better way to teach and learn. The hard thing about having discussions is that it requires the student to be at a level where the can respond quickly to what is being talked about. They have to be actively engaged in order to contribute to the conversation. This discussion model is a bit hard for the technical classes, where the students are different levels and have not “experience enough”. I know for me, it was hard to ask effective questions in undergraduate engineering course, but when I worked for about two years, I had much more insight to contribute to the discussion.
