Abstract:

Thirty-eight (38) final year students doing the MECE 511 course (Mechanical Behaviour of Materials) at the Botswana International University of Science & Technology were given two instructions on the generalised Hooke’s law for anisotropic materials. One of the instructions was as per the treatment of the subject matter in the book by Dowling, N.E., 2012. Mechanical Behavior of Materials: engineering methods for deformation, fracture, and fatigue, prescribed for the course. The other instructions were lecture slides prepared by the instructor by collating and bringing together diverse approaches from about ten (10) other sources.
The students were asked to give their impressions, especially:
(1) on the comprehensibility of either approach,
(2) the information over/[under]-load in either approach, e.g. as to whether the details bogged the down student or not, and,
(3) finally, what did they think could be improved in either of the approaches.

The feedback was captured using prepared questionnaire to which students responded anonymously. Results from the survey showed that students found the lecture slides presentation very illuminating and providing the most needed details for the understanding of the subject matter. It is hoped that these findings will be useful for advising trainers on the amount of detail needed to enhance understanding of material being delivered.

Keywords:

Teaching for understanding, Hooke’s law, Generalised Hooke’s Law, Anisotropic Materials, Mechanical behaviour of materials, Stress, Strain.