Monday, December 08, 2008
An interesting way to teach
Category: Sailing Topic: Course on diesel engines
I recently attended an RYA couse on diesel engine maintenance, at the Lewes campus of Sussex Downs College.
From the brochure, I expected six students and an instructor clustered around a diesel engine. It wasn't like that at all.
Our instructor, Graham Whittington of Southern Marine, turned up with half-a-dozen crates containing bits scavenged from lots of different engines. Eleven students sat around a large, rectangular table, and Graham built parts of engines at one end, before our very eyes.
When Graham wanted to explain the fuel supply subsystem, for example, he got out a can of the kind you might have in your car, and using a variety of bits of piping connected it to the various filters and pumps you'd find on a real engine. Then he could demonstrate topics such as how air gets trapped, and how to bleed the system.
There were two immediate benefits of this approach. First, we could see everything. When we were learning about crankshafts and camshafts, we could handle actual examples of these parts. Second, our attention was automatically drawn to the parts that were important to the topic under discussion. While learning about the fuel system, the bits concerned with air supply were back in their crate.
Of course, we never saw a complete engine running, but what would that have added? Overall, I found the approach refreshing. My interest was held all day. And I came away confident to handle the various parts of an engine that need regular checking and maintenance.
