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Contents

Acknowledgements
Foreword
Using This Resource

I. Preparing to Teach
Planning a course
--Defining Instructional Objectives
--Teaching and Learning Styles: The   Academic Culture
--Choosing and Using Instructional   Materials
--Writing a Syllabus
--Syllabus Checklist
--Using the Syllabus in Class
--Summary of Course Planning
Addressing Students' Needs
--Importance of Knowing Your   Students
--Planning Considerations
--Getting to Know Your Students
--Students of Different Backgrounds
--Students with Disabilities
--Teaching Strategies: Non-Native   Speakers of English
--Creating a Learning Environment
--Dealing with Disruptive Behavior in   the Classroom
--Common Disruptive Student   Behaviors and Possible Responses
--Dealing with Apathetic Students
--Cultural Differences for International   Instructors
--Summary of Addressing Students’   Needs
Teaching Tips
--Organizing Class
--Ways to Be Accessible Outside the   Classroom
--Six Common Non-Facilitating   Teaching Behaviors
--Wireless in the Classroom: Advice   for Faculty
--Summary of Teaching Tips

II. Teaching Methods
The First Day of Class
--When the Class Meets You
--When You Meet the Class
--Diversity the Instructor Brings to the   Classroom
--Conversing with Students with   Disabilities
--Moving Forward
--Summary of the First Day of Class
Lecturing
--Strategies for Effective Learning
--Advantages and Disadvantages of   the Traditional Lecture Method
--Enhancing Learning in Large   Classes
--Chalkboard Technique
--Writing Assignments in the Lecture
--Engaging Women in Math and   Science Courses
--Formulating Effective Questions
--Summary of Lecturing
Discussion
--Brief Overview
--The “Nuts and Bolts” of Discussion
--Facilitating Discussion of Sensitive   Issues
--Encouraging Student Contributions
--Alternative Instructional Methods
--Potential Problems in Discussions
--Summary of Discussion
Expanding Teaching Strategies
--Practical Examples
--Show and Tell
--Case Studies
--Teaching with Case Studies
--Guided Design Projects
--Brainstorming
Group Work
--General Information about Using   Groups
--Group Work in an Introductory   Science Laboratory
Science Labs
--The Role of the Lab Instructor
--What Do the Students Need to   Know?
--The First Day
--Planning and Running a Laboratory
--Safety Procedures
--Summary of Science Labs
Teaching Outside the Classroom
--Tutoring
--Office Hours
--Teaching Students to Solve   Problems
--Advising and Extracurricular   Activities
--Summary of Teaching Outside the   Classroom
Overcoming Misconceptions
--Societal Attitudes and Science   Anxiety
--Misconceptions as Barriers to   Understanding Science
--Common Difficulties and   Misunderstandings

III. Teaching-as-Research
Assessing Student Performance
--Establishing Objectives for   Assessment
--Assessment Primer
--Formulating Effective Methods of   Assessment
--Helping Students Succeed on   Assignments and Exams
--The Why and How of Tests
--Grading Lab Reports, Problem Sets,   and Exam Questions
--Grading Checklist
--Grading Specific Activities
--Grading Writing
--Summary of Assessing Student   Performance
How to Evaluate Your Own Teaching
--Evaluating Your Own Teaching
--A Note on Teaching-as-Research

IV. Appendices
Inspirational Essays
--Mathematics: The Universal   Language of Science
--Transforming Quizzes into Teaching   and Learning Tools
--Teaching My Students to Fish
--Chemistry: The Other Foreign   Language
--Teaching to Different Modes of   Learning
--Notes from a Career in Teaching
Additional Resources
Websites
Graduate Assistant Handbook Outline
--Department- and Institution-Specific   Information
--18 Questions to Have Answered

Works Cited

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Connecting Theory with Applications

Students have expressed concern regarding the need for more industrial and practical examples to reinforce theory in the classroom. The use of practical examples can help you connect theory with practical applications for more effective teaching and learning. The introduction of practical examples does not imply an elimination of theory, but rather an enhancement of the theory taught in the classroom. It is important to simultaneously develop a theoretical and a practical base for knowledge, since neither is useful without the other. The use of practical examples in the classroom is targeted at the following two main goals:

1. Help to illustrate and explain new material, making the theoretical basis of the material more accessible to the students. Practical examples help students understand the new concepts being introduced.
2. Teach students how to apply their knowledge of course material to new situations that are not directly covered in class. The goal here is to show the students not only that what they are learning has practical applications but, more importantly, how to apply their understanding of the basic principles to real problems.

Scope

Practical examples can be included at all levels of the curriculum. When determining examples to be used for instruction, make the examples as clear and straightforward as possible. The key is to make the examples as simple as possible, and to make sure that they demonstrate the desired theoretical principle. Whenever possible, the examples should be designed so that the students’ physical senses are brought into play. Examples that the students are likely to enjoy include those that require them to use their senses of sight, feeling, hearing or smell. Remember the following guidelines when implementing practical examples:

• Understand the example given and be able to explain it. If you cannot provide a clear explanation for the example, the example will confuse the students more than it will help them.
  
• Before giving a demonstration or take-home assignment, carry out the assignment yourself. This will ensure that you know exactly what the students will “see.” It will also help you to anticipate questions. Giving an assignment or demonstration that doesn’t work is frustrating to the students and is bad for your credibility.
• Choose examples that are relevant to the students. Examples that the students can observe first-hand – as opposed to those in a film, online or on TV – are better. Try to find examples that the students can observe on campus or at home. Pull examples from current events – like, for instance, explaining the cause for a design failure of a collapsed bridge recently in the news. Explain the basic principles behind a new or commonly used product, like the fluid mechanics aspects of a Bernoulli disk drive in a computer.
• Use examples that are not very well known to your students. Often, such examples will pique their interest more because of their novelty. If you do choose a well-known case, be careful; students may have preexisting assumptions about the material, which may or may not be grounded in fact.

Categories and Types of Practical Examples

Practical examples can be grouped into three broad categories:

1. Those that help in the explanation of theory and new concepts,
2. Those that illustrate the application of basic principles, and
3. Those that can both explain theory and new concepts and illustrate their application.

Practical examples can also be broken down into different types based on the format in which they are used.

Explanation of Practical Example Types

Analogy (A)
The analogy is a very helpful tool for explaining new concepts. Here, the instructor links the new concept to an idea which the students can easily picture in their minds. An example of an analogy would be to explain the concept of the conservation of energy in terms of money in a bank. One can imagine the money in a checking account as being analogous to kinetic energy. Similarly, money in the savings and money market accounts can be thought of as being analogous to pressure and potential energies, respectively. Just as money can be transferred between the three different accounts, so energy can be transferred between the three different forms. The concept of frictional energy losses can now be easily related to the debiting of money from the accounts (say, for paying the rent).

Sensing (B)
Sensing examples are designed so that students can “feel” the science behind the phenomena. The goal here is to have the students carry out experiments that allow them to sense the different parameters that enter into the theory. An excellent example of this would be to study the relationship between speed and torque for a gear system using a ten-speed bicycle. The students’ assignment would be to flip a ten-speed bicycle upside down, switch through all the gear combinations while pedaling it by hand, and physically sense how the speed and torque for a particular gear setting are related. Clearly, the emphasis in this technique is not to teach or explain a new concept but to give a known concept more meaning by having the students sense it.

Secondary Effects (B)
Secondary effects demonstrate the fact that sometimes the explanation of an engineering phenomenon is not obvious. The purpose here is to get the students to really consider all the possible explanations besides the most obvious one. A classic example of this would be observation of the direction of movement of a helium balloon tied to the floor of a car when the car accelerates. Typically one would expect the balloon to move backwards when the car accelerates, due to the inertia of the balloon. This would be the case if a steel ball were to be suspended from the ceiling of a car. In reality, the students will notice that the balloon moves forward as the car accelerates. An investigation of the forces acting on the balloon can be done either as a homework assignment or as a class discussion. By doing so, the students should eventually come to realize that the balloon is pushed forward by the buoyancy force acting on it. As the car accelerates, the air in the back of the car is compressed slightly, resulting in a density gradient from the front to the rear of the car. The helium in the balloon is lighter than air and therefore experiences a buoyancy force in the horizontal direction.

Observations (C)
Observations that the student can make outside of class can help demonstrate basic principles currently being studied in class. The example can be carried out as a take-home assignment where the students are required to go and observe a phenomenon that they can readily see, feel, hear and/or smell, and to summarize their observations later. The students bring their observations to class and the instructor leads a discussion of what the students observed and what those observations mean. This type of exercise not only helps with the understanding of a new concept or basic principle, but teaches the students how to observe a phenomenon before trying to analyze it.

Demonstrations (Experimental or Mathematical) (C)
The demonstration example can be done either as an experimental exercise carried out in class with small models, or as a mathematical exercise carried out on the chalkboard or computer to explain a physical phenomenon. This can be particularly instructive when the students are aware of the phenomena but are not able to explain the science behind it.

Experimental (C)
An experimental demonstration requires physical equipment. While finding the right equipment may not always be possible, some examples require materials as simple as a paper clip or piece of paper. For instance, the factors affecting the aerodynamic drag and lift forces on an object can be demonstrated with a simple piece of writing paper. Hold a flat sheet of paper parallel to the floor and drop it, observing its rate of descent. Then take the same sheet of paper, crumple it up, drop it and observe its rate of descent. In both cases you have the same material, the same mass, and the same gravitational force acting on the system. Therefore, these parameters can be eliminated from consideration. By further eliminating other parameters, the students can be led to understand that the important parameter is the aerodynamic drag acting on the two different objects. Similarly, important governing parameters in other systems could be deduced. For instance, tests could be run with the same object shapes but with different projected areas. By observing how the time of fall depends on the various parameters, the students could arrive at the main governing parameters.

Mathematical (C)
The purpose of a mathematical demonstration would be to explain, using the theory developed in class, the science behind some phenomena that the students have seen or heard of. This can be particularly enlightening if the phenomenon is such that everyone knows about it, but few realize what really is happening. For instance, the term “valve float” in an internal combustion engine can be explained by modeling the valve as a train of solid links and springs, and then writing the equations of motion for the valve.