Vol. Measurement
Chapter Introduction to Industrial Instrumentation

Industrial Instrumentation Summary for Teachers

To summarize some of the key points and concepts for teaching:

  • Do not waste class time transmitting facts to students – let the students research facts outside of class
  • Use class time to develop high-level thinking skills (e.g. problem-solving, diagnostic techniques, metacognition)
  • Use Socratic dialogue to challenge each and every student on the subject matter
  • Focus on general principles, not specific procedures
  • Make labwork as realistic as possible
  • Build diagnostic skill by first exercising deductive reasoning, as a prelude to inductive reasoning
  • Incorporate frequent troubleshooting exercises in the lab, with students diagnosing realistic faults in instrument systems
  • Include a broad range of practical topics and aspects in all coursework rather than fall into the convention of focusing on memorizing definitions, stating concepts, and performing quantitative calculations
  • Assess student learning validly and rigorously
  • Review important knowledge and skill areas continually until graduation – build this review into the program courses themselves (homework, quizzes, exams) rather than relying on ad hoc review

One final piece of advice for educators at every level: it is better to teach a few things well than to teach many things poorly! If external constraints force you to “cover” too much material in too little time, focus on making each learning exercise as integrative as possible, so students will experience different topics in ways that reinforce and give context to each other.

1 Comment
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    ezeringue March 28, 2021

    A lot you mention here is very good for instructors. I been teaching over 35 plus year in the Oil and Gas Industry. I didn’t realize I was doing it right all along. Especially the comment: it is better to teach a few things well than to teach many things poorly! I always said that. Put a lot of institutions press to teach to much in the time given. We are not all build the same, we all have different pace to accomplish goals. Simply, Just get it done.

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