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“Theory? What does this have to do with anything we’re doing?” Sound familiar? Students may not always verbalize this, but they often think it, especially in courses where the emphasis is on the development of technical skills and the application of those skills to the building of products. Presenting theory in a way that is relevant and engaging can be challenging under these circumstances. This article describes how we addressed this challenge by involving students in an analysis of their “best learning experiences” stories, and then helped them apply their discoveries to the products they built.
This document was originally published by International Society for Exploring Teaching and Learning publisher in International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. This work is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs License. Details regarding the use of this work can be found at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/.
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/patrick_lowenthal/38/