Laboratory development in collaboration with industry

The challenge of how to provide the very best education for engineering students is a complex one, and here the authors addresses one aspect of that problem, namely the development of effective teaching laboratories. He believes that this is an extremely important part of the engineering students' education, particularly when one considers that many of these students will go to work in industry, often as design engineers. Indeed, Bloom's well known taxonomy of educational objectives suggests that educators need to push students' understanding beyond simply learning and applying facts, to enable them to combine ideas and make critical judgements. The ability to evaluate evidence and use it to make sound judgements is also viewed as a sign of maturity in the Ferry model of intellectual development, often used in engineering. It is clear that an education which effectively prepares one for a career as a design engineer must help develop this type of critical thinking, and many educators believe that active learning via a properly designed laboratory is an excellent vehicle for doing just that.