Someone once mentioned that projects have only three parts — starting, doing and finishing. Further, only two are difficult — starting and finishing. Presenting my Industrial Flow Measurement seminar is a case in point.

The seminar starts by presenting students with a two-page pre-instructional survey. If a student asks a question, I simply point to the survey and motion to write something. While the chemical engineers are busy writing about Reynolds number, other students often finish quickly and look puzzled. I walk around, examine their answers (or lack thereof) and refer them to:

• Question 5 — In your opinion, what percentage of flowmeter users are knowledgeable of the compromises necessary for flowmeter selection?
• Question 6 — What color is the sky?
• Question 12 — Estimate the score for your answers using a scale of 0-100 percent.  (No response = 0 percent)

The least a student can do is answer these questions. At some point, work on the survey stops and the seminar starts with introductions. There is no talking about answers.

The seminar finishes with each student being presented with a two-page post-instructional survey that is (surprise!) identical to the pre-instructional survey distributed at the start of the seminar. Things are different this time around because the students take quite a bit of time to complete the survey before presenting their answers to the other students.

Waiting around and seemingly doing nothing at the start and end of a seminar can be difficult. Distractions such as walking down the hall, looking out a window or getting a drink of water help until the students finish the survey. However, real satisfaction occurs when the students (internally) compare their post-instructional survey to their pre-instructional survey and begin to appreciate how much they learned in the seminar.