Keep Them On The Edge Of Their Seats: Bringing Drama Into The Engineering Classroom

The role of the teacher in the classroom is often likened to the actor engaging an audience in the theatre. Joseph Lowman states that, “College classrooms are fundamentally dramatic arenas in which the teacher is the focal point, like the actor or orator on stage.” Wankat and Oreowicz further state, “All lectures are performances.” A teacher can be competent without performing, but “the ability to stimulate strong positive emotions in students separates the competent from the outstanding teacher”. Humor, spontaneity, variety of activity, animated delivery, enthusiasm for the subject matter, and the presence of drama in the classroom can help foster such emotions. It may appear difficult upon first glance to imagine how one brings drama and flair into the engineering world of derivations, complex equations, and code requirements. It takes more imagination than a class on law or history, which seem to lend themselves better to dramatic effect. Wankat and Oreowicz contend that dramatic effect in the realm of engineering is natural because “there is an inherent drama and majesty in the ability of theory to predict and occasionally miss the behavior of the real world.” The Statics and Dynamics course at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, has made drama an integral part of the course and the cornerstone for several lessons. This paper presents three specific lessons that effectively use drama to excite students and enhance their learning. Several key components are identified for each lesson that were critical to developing the desired drama effect during the lesson. These components could be used in any course to develop drama in the classroom to equally develop a stimulating learning environment.