Making Engineering Education "Active"

Active education might be defined as a system of instruction in which the student himself plays an active role in his education. The author expresses a certain number of suggestions, mostly based on his experiences, in order to help the achievement of active education in engineering. Theoretical lectures should raise active discussions, comparisons, and applications of theories; approaches different from those traditionally pursued are thus required for carrying out class work and for evaluating students. Applied research in universities should be primarily aimed at attaining educational goals; improving quality of instruction, obtaining the active participation of students in their education, stimulating a professional interest, making them aware of society and its problems. The last-mentioned objective might be easily achieved in communities of few natural resources in a developing country. Suggestions are made for obtaining a profitable use of the time to be dedicated to graduation thesis and for organizing in effective ways, works of students in laboratories. Finally, it is emphasized that experiences of students in industries, carefully organized, can help to make an active education as earlier defined. Furthermore, field experiences can serve to orient the students on their work aptitudes as well to enhance their knowledge of social environments.