Reverse Classroom Teaching
Structures and Statics Teaching Assistant : Fall 2021
Professor Irving Oppenheim
pencil box learning
During COVID, the teaching structure became restricted to online teaching, limiting the connection that students have to the subject material. With architecture students in particular, they are used to working through drawing and modelling, and the kinesthetic aspect of learning was removed during the pandemic. As a teaching assistant, I worked on re-introducing kinesthetic learning when working through class material with the students by using objects that they would have easy access; their pencil box.
Pencils and pens became posts and beams, while erasers and pen caps became hinges or roller joints. By trying out the structure in the problem set, the students were able to connect the abstract load diagrams to a physical example. Since the course was taught on Zoom during the pandemic, student engagement was key to knowledge retention, and this physical teaching method translated well through the limitations of online learning.