Here is another lesson plan for use in teaching engineering science.  This one is based on the stress generated by a slam dunk in basketball.  Sports provide many potential Everyday Examples but caution needs taken in selecting them because not all students are interested in or participate in sports.  Research has shown that the context of examples should be familiar to all students in a class.  Otherwise students will be worrying about the context and will not be listening to the explanation of the engineering science.  Examples will be perceived as tedious intellectual exercises unless that allow questions to be posed that have interesting or useful answers.  Student motivation is closely linked to their perception of the usefulness of the exercise.

When Everyday Examples are set in a familiar context and yield fruitful outcomes, then the level of student engagement and learning is not influenced by the level of difficulty.  So there is no need to idealise a scenario to an elementary problem prior to applying engineering principles.  And here is the proverbial slam dunk, instructors who successful incorporate appropriate Everyday Examples into their lectures are likely to be rated more highly by their students, regardless of the associated level of difficulty.

Lesson plan: 5EplanNoS9_eccentric_loading

See the Everyday Examples page on this blog for more lesson plans and more background on Everyday Examples.