There are instructional methods that are not only enjoyable but incent students to share their varied reality and create applications. A case in point occurs after discussing physical properties and flowmeter performance statements in my Industrial Flow Measurement seminar, when students participate in a group exercise involving four generic applications and four potential flowmeters, each having a different performance and cost.

The students are divided into four groups, where people who know each other prior to the seminar are in different groups. Each group is given one of the applications and is charged with presenting how and why the group selected one of the potential flowmeters for its application. They are also instructed to discuss the other applications after completing their presentation so they can ask questions during the other presentations. While busy working on their respective applications, the instructor informs the students that a flowmeter salesperson just called and changed the cost and performance of a flowmeter, prompting students to reconsider their analysis and results.

Presentations have included process definitions that varied from a brief description to a 15-minute dissertation with drawings showing how one group member’s plant feeds material to another group member’s plant (and vice versa), complete with different operating conditions at different times of the day. Groups take turns describing the logic used to determine why they selected a particular flowmeter, all the while being challenged by their peers from the other three groups, or the instructor if the students miss an important point. The result is a challenging exercise that directly utilizes and critiques the information presented. Discussions led by students are not only enjoyable, but also among the best ways to learn.