 | University of Virginia March, 1907 |  |
METHODS OF INSTRUCTION.
The Department of Engineering is conducted by a Faculty of sixteen
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
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 Shop-work is planned for engineers and not for artisans. The
equipment is of the best quality, but the time and energies of the student
are not wasted on too extended a course. Enough is done to give intelligent
ideas as to constructive materials and shop methods, and the manual
dexterity necessary for laboratory research is in some measure secured.
After that the student turns to higher problems.
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.
In Field-work enough practice is required from every student to give
him clear understanding and ready use of the standard field instruments.
Students of Civil Engineering have ample practice in the later years of the
course, in conjunction with the special elective topics pursued by them.
| University of Virginia March, 1907 | |