University of Virginia Library

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION.

The Department of Engineering is conducted by a Faculty of
twenty-nine professors and other instructors. It furnishes complete
four-year courses leading to degrees in each of the four great divisions
of Engineering—Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, and Mining. Their
common basis is the axiom that clear understanding and firm grasp
of scientific principles furnish the only sure foundation for the labors
of the modern scientific engineer. Their aim is to secure:

First, thorough drill in Pure and Applied Mathematics, without
which no engineer can justly pretend to a sound knowledge of his
profession.

Second, broad, accurate and thorough training in those Pure and
Applied Sciences, of which rational engineering is simply the concrete
expression.

Third, adequate knowledge of the Special Elective Topics, which
constitute the subject matter of each great division of Engineering
Science.

The methods of instruction employed to effect this aim are thorough,
rational, and modern. The courses are given by the joint use
of text-books and lectures. They are made objective by parallel practical
courses in the drafting room, the shop, the laboratory and the
field. They are enforced by daily oral examinations, by frequent
written reviews, by copious exercises in drafting and computation,
and by abundant illustration from experiments and specimens. At
the end of each term the student's mastery of the course is tested
by a rigid written examination, and his fitness for graduation is
judged by the combined result of term work and examination grades.

The object pursued throughout is to give to the thoughtful student
an intelligent mastery of scientific method and with this aim in view
certain departures have been made from the more ordinary routine
processes of engineering education.

The Drafting Exercises are not separated from and independent
of the theoretical studies, designed to give merely a technical mastery
of the draftman's tools. They run parallel with the lecture course,
and are used to illustrate and enforce its lessons. Each problem assigned
is made, if possible, an exercise not only in drawing but in
design, and serves to cultivate power of analysis as well as manual
skill.

The Laboratory Exercises begin with the beginning of the Student's
work and continue to the end. Like the drafting exercises they
run parallel with the lecture course, or are the objective prelude to it.
As far as is possible each student verifies for himself by actual tests
and measurements the fundamental laws of engineering science.

The Field-work is planned to secure in every candidate for a degree
in Civil Engineering or in Mining Engineering thorough understanding
of the standard field instruments and rapidity and precision
in their use. It occupies the afternoon hours of both the Fall and
Spring terms of the first two years. Students of Civil Engineering
have also extended courses in railway surveying and location as part
of their elective work. Students of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
are given a shorter course, occupying the afternoon hours
of the Spring Term of the first year.

The Shop-work is planned for engineers rather than for artisans.
It aims to secure in every candidate for a degree in Mechanical or
Electrical Engineering intelligent ideas as to the action of hand tools,
the construction and uses of machine tools, and the characteristic
properties of constructive materials. In executing the required exercises
the student acquires not only a certain manual dexterity but
sound conceptions of the meaning and necessity of precision in workmanship.
It is deemed unwise, however, to divert the energy and
interest of the student from the higher problems of his calling in
the vain hope of making him a skilled mechanic.