Ascalon Fall 2015

Blending disciplines

Fall 2015

BOB WEIN AND MIKE HANSEL ’76

on a Physics and Art academic collaboration — Principles of Engineering SIXTH-FORMER KYLE BURNS

on the content of the course and the value of interdisciplinary teaching

ASCALON

And then St. George the dragon slayer drew his mighty sword Ascalon…

Course Collaboration Central to the mission of the Merck-Horton Center for Teaching and Learning at St. George’s is the effort to apply innovation, free thinking and constructive change to the academic program. As we celebrate a generous gift from the estate of Albert W. Merck ’39, P’76 in support of the center, those goals are being realized in a dynamic new interdisciplinary course drawn from a collaboration between art teacher Mike Hansel ’76 and physics teacher Bob Wein. Principles of Engineering combines their areas of expertise in an exciting blend of hands-on creativity and applied science, and serves as a role model for an evolving curriculum

If thinking outside the box is one of the keys to fostering innovation in general, then thinking outside the classroom is surely a factor in expanding academic possibilities and generating positive change in a school curriculum. It is happening right now at St. George’s in any number of ways, prompted as much by the Merck-Horton Center and its ongoing research into modern educational methodology, as by a faculty committed to trying new approaches to teaching and optimizing the learning experience for students. Thinking outside the classroom means liberating a syllabus and letting it develop and interact in an open forum. It means sharing course content across a range of academic disciplines in the interest of finding collaborative solutions to real-world problems. It is what Art Department chair Mike Hansel ’76 and Science Department chair Bob Wein are undertaking as partners in a two-

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trimester course they introduced this year, Principles of Engineering. The premise of the course revolves around the notion that engineering in its applied form is both a science and an art. When you build a bridge, it has to support itself and whatever moves across it, first and foremost. Arguably, it has to be aesthetically agreeable as well, to assuage the mentality of the user and to serve as an artistic statement glorifying not only the engineering marvel that it is, but also the human hand that designed and built it. Currently, students in the class are divided into groups and doing just that — designing and building functional model bridges with fabricated trusses. They are learning about the physics involved through stress-strain analyses of various materials under the guidance of Wein. They are learning about the aesthetics involved in rendering a finished (Please see “Engineering” on the back)