Connecting Knowledge to Practice

My first thought of teaching was convey of knowledge. After many years of scientific research, however, I realized that using the knowledge to solve practical problems is equally important; research involves such uses of knowledge. Connecting knowledge to practice requires critical thinking abilities and the ability to communicate the knowledge. Making this connection can be challenging for students, but it is a key to prepare them for advanced courses and their future work. My primary goal as an instructor is to enable my students to make this connection.

Learning the fundamentals of materials science, understanding why we are learning all that, and learning where and how to use them are three key components of my teaching. An example of my lecture is as follows. First, I introduce a new concept, such as grain growth. I use steel as an example to show and explain what grains are and the processing parameters that affect the grain growth. Next, I present a comparison between a fine-grain and a coarse-grain specimen and show why the former is stronger than the latter. Finally, I ask some of the students to solve some realistic problems using the grain growth knowledge; one problems could be: “if you were a steel manufacturer, what parameters would you control to produce high-strength steel products? At the end of the class, I ask each student to write down an example where grain growth is important in their daily lives.

As a teaching assistant and an instructor, I have learned several ways to motivate and encourage students to use what they have learned in class to solve practical problems. Hands-on labs and project work are invaluable for developing links between concepts taught in class and practical applications. In my material ...

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...The variety of evaluation methods not only better assesses students’ knowledge and capabilities but also improves the climate amongst students.

Students’ engagement and performance in these assessment activities measure the effectiveness of my teaching method. If a few students perform poorly, I would encourage them to come to my office hours for individual tutoring; if more than one third of class has trouble reaching the class objectives, I would analyze where the trouble comes from and adjust my teaching and evaluation methods.

Teaching is a win-win activity. The knowledge I convey to students is just a “toolbox”, but teaching them how to use the “toolbox” really helps them become creative, effective engineers. When I see my students relate their knowledge learned in my class to practical applications and solve practical problems, I see the success of my teaching.