ETRAP 2005

Abstract details

Title		Teaching problem solving skills to radiation protection students
Presented by		Waller, Edward
Institute(s)		University of Ontario Institute of Technology (CA)
Description		Problem solving skills are essential for all engineers and scientists. Although some students have more natural problem solving skills than others, all students require practice to become comfortable using these skills. At UOIT, a course was developed as part of the core curriculum to teach students problem solving skills, along with elements of modelling and simulation. The underlying emphasis of the course was to allow students to develop their own problem solving strategies, both individually and in groups. Direction was given on how to examine problems from different perspectives, and how to determine the proper root problem statement. Computational aspects of problem solving will be explored using the commercially available MATLAB computer code. A number of case studies were presented as both example and problems to the student. Emphasis was placed on solutions to problems of interest to nuclear engineers and radiation scientists. This paper will describe the methodology and tools used at Canada’s newest laptop-based university to teach the next generation of nuclear engineering and radiation science professionals essential problem solving skills.
Full paper		Waller.pdf (45 KB - 45,625 bytes)