Teaching and Learning Stem: A Practical Guide 1st Edition

I am a certified High School Physics and Math teacher. I was charged with the task of developing an Introduction to Engineering Class for high school students. Needless to say there are no well established textbooks dealing with this subject at this level. I decided to read this book, in an effort to help me decide the best way to proceed.First and foremost, I noticed that my philosophy of education was simpatico with Richard Felder who is a Chemical Engineer. He emphasizes the importance of interacting with your students, as you work through any lesson. Entirely too many science and math teachers out there, do not adopt this practice and it is the cause of most consternation amongst students who take math and science class. The teacher assumes that because they presented something, it was automatically taught. Students need to be given tasks throughout a given lecture, so that they can see how much they truly understand.As for my Engineering Class, the most useful information that I received was the idea of conveying to students the importance of working effectively as a team. To give students a glimpse of what it is like to function, as an engineer, they have to work on projects, as members of a team. As teachers we all dread the hassle of giving students group projects and the ensuing complaints that arise.“Johnny’s not doing his fair share of the work.”“Johnny’s taking over and bossing everybody around.”“I don’t want to work with Johnny, I want to work with somebody else.”The book does an excellent job of dealing with these scenarios. It stresses that the real world isn’t about getting A’s on tests and projects. It is about whether or not the team is successful and whether or not, they accomplish their goal. In my Engineering class with my students I emphasized this early on. Chapter 11, which deals with how to form effective teams was extremely helpful. I formed teams at the beginning of the year. I used many of the book’s concepts with the plan of re-evaluating teams,a the year progressed, but it wasn’t necessary. Throughout the year, all of my students internalized the team concept and were always working for the success of the team and not worrying about individual grades. Throughout all of their projects, different team members worked on different aspects of the same project and appeared to get along well throughout.These concepts were thoroughly stressed throughout the book, and so it became an important focus for me throughout my class.For anyone who is teaching Science or math, computer programming or any type of engineering course, I would highly recommend reading this book, before proceeding.

This book is a treasure and legacy from the authors to the STEM faculty community! If it had been written before, decades of tears, frustrations and disillusionment of students and professors would have been saved. I will make sure everybody I come across in my workshops/seminars/speeches will learn about this precious resource to make them more effective and efficient in their teaching, and will suggest that my hosts get copies for the participants to ensure they can continue to explore and apply the valuable suggestions in it.”

If you liked How Learning Works or Make it Stick, this books goes one step further and provides useful tips and practical suggestions for beginning and/or experienced instructors in STEM disciplines. The book is full of ideas that one can begin to use them immediately in small or large class sizes. The goal of the book is to get students actively engaged in the classroom than passively listening to a lecture. Of the two previous books mentioned, this one is my favorite.

Great resource! Felder and Brent have collected up all the wonderful ideas from their wealth of publications and then some to create this book. Both beginning and veteran faculty can find much of use in this volume. The authors have skillfully combined a step-by-step how-to guide in many instances with readable compilations of the latest research on human learning. Any science or engineering instructor would benefit from having this book on their shelves.

A good book to have in your library. Nothing excellent about it.

Appreciate the sharing of experience. Great read for new to experienced faculty with numerous exemplars of what works in the classroom.

Great book, extremely helpful and applicable

Presentation of the ideas and concepts are very useful. This would be a great book for all professors