Dr. Merrett’s education philosophy is to apply the effective habits of teachers and the expectations of a Professional Engineer, and provide a structure so that students may advance through the framework elucidated by Bloom’s taxonomy. Dr. Merrett uses flipped classroom instruction combined with active learning in the classroom and problem based learning via course projects. This combination provides a schedule of videos for the students to watch prior to each class followed by hands-on activities in the classroom. The videos provide the theory and targets the “Remember” and “Understand” levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. The classroom activities, involving worked examples and case studies derived from aircraft accidents, check these two levels and target the “Apply” and “Analyze” stages. The course projects are conducted in groups of four and require the students to complete a detailed structural analysis for an aircraft of their choice. The course projects involve extensive technical writing in the form of memos and reports, and technical presentations. These communication opportunities provide students with the platform to attempt the “Evaluate” and “Create” stages of Bloom’s taxonomy.
The use of case studies for the class exercises, course project, and the final exam is deliberate. The case studies provide an authentic assessment for the course content. Such assessments are beneficial as studies have shown that authentic assessments enable improved knowledge transfer to realistic situations. Coupled with the authentic assessments is the requirement to provide written and oral communications as the act of communication helps crystallize concepts in the student’s mind. Dr. Merrett has studied authentic assessments for senior level courses, comparing paper based projects derived from case studies and build projects where groups had to construct a test article. The case study based projects demonstrate a higher improvement in students’ understanding than build projects.