Storytelling - A Most Powerful Tool in Shaping Lesson Plans in Engineering Education

Most engineering instructors are put into the classroom by virtue of simply holding a Ph.D. in their field of study. Very few have any formal training in education or more specifically in engineering education, which would include a knowledge of various learning styles and how to engage them. Even knowing learning styles, one of the tools that is almost not utilized at all in engineering education is weaving in anecdotal evidence (ie — storytelling) into what is typically a logic-only lesson plan. Research shows that integrating right-brain activities (emotional, imaginative) into left-brain lesson (logical) very much increased student retention of material. Examples are given for how this can be done in mechanical engineering lessons specifically.Copyright © 2013 by ASME