http://drstutor.com/blog1 Issues, perspectives and ideas from a tutor/engineer Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:07:05 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I normally think of first rules as being positive statement. Things like “be good” or “remember the objective.” But engineering is ruled by Murphy's Law (“If something can go wrong it will, at the worst possible moment and in the worst possible way.”) So, the first rule ... http://drstutor.com/blog1/2007/09/25/the-first-rule-of-engineering/ As a tutor, I suppose I should feel grateful for “No Child Left Behind.” It has caused enough angst to fuel the careers of many tutors. Unfortunately, I think that angst is the problem. The specter of failure, I think, has caused many of our children, students ... http://drstutor.com/blog1/2007/09/17/proper-focus/ It seems that every time I start a new project two items determine the success of that project. First, is that if I define the project as simply as possible. That is, define the absolute minimum that I must have this project do. So, if I was ... http://drstutor.com/blog1/2007/09/10/keep-it-simple-rules/ Yes, today's middle school/high school/college student should be using a day timer Why, with all they have going on it is an absolute wonder that they don't explode. OK, maybe that isn't strictly true for college students. Students with their first day timer should be instructed in ... http://drstutor.com/blog1/2007/08/13/day-timers/ Here I am stuck in an airport, when what do my wandering eyes see?  A brief article in USA Today about how some states waive sales tax on back-to-school items!  Think of it the state waives sales tax during the month of August on text books, paper, pencils, pens and ... http://drstutor.com/blog1/2007/08/03/yet-another-good-idea/ One of the more overlooked skills that all students should have is the idea of “modularizing” a problem. That is, breaking a problem down into component sub-problems. I have seen this formally presented in a number of forums but mostly at the college level. This is a ... http://drstutor.com/blog1/2007/07/30/divide-and-conquer/ As I've been out of town for most of this past month, my wife sent me the following link- CEO Libraries. Basically something we don't think about. I mean the last bragging session with friends about their new houses did not include a boast about how big their ... http://drstutor.com/blog1/2007/07/23/reading-is-still-fundamental/ One of the most important problem solving techniques that I've ever used, I saw presented for the first time when I was a graduate student. Ever since then I have wondered if it was an oversight in my training or if it was yet another thing that everybody should ... http://drstutor.com/blog1/2007/07/16/backward-problem-solving/ I've been struggling for a couple weeks about one topic. Simply put the topic is “life time learning”, simply put anybody worth their salt is on continuous quest for more and better knowledge. That said, the real question is how do we teach people to be life long ... http://drstutor.com/blog1/2007/07/05/summer-learning/ In the beginning we educated individuals in a one-on-one manner. For most of human history this has been the model of education that has worked. In the Encyclopedia Britannica I was able to find reference to Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi as one of the early expounders of group learning. ... http://drstutor.com/blog1/2007/06/08/history-lesson/