John,
Good way to move from concrete to abstract. This lets them see the relevancy and make application to what they are learning.
Gary
When doing course 17 in which some of the learning will be abstract then taking that thinking into concrete by doing labs where the student will have to apply that abstract thinking. Then after the lab ask the student what they learned.
abstract thinking is the biggest single challenge that a student will face. trying to use a newly learned skill and apply it to things that are foreign to them can be difficult. At some point they realize that life,and the problems we deal with on a regular basis, is much harder than a video game.
We use both in are labs when the students are diagnosing a problem. When we place the student on a vehicle with a misfire, they start their diagnosis with what they know about misfires. This may have them, seeing connections with another misfire they have worked with. Some misfires are more direct they have a DTC.
Abstract is what we first start teaching in class giving them the fundamentals,and concrete is the hands on out in Lab were the student can see what we were talking about.I think they are equally useful for the students.
Hi Daniel,
I agree on the challenges of helping students to get to the abstract thinking and problem solving level. By giving them a solid concrete foundation they will be able to progress to the abstract stage after some experience and additional knowledge acquisition.
Gary
Everything in the automotive repair field is application of theory to the actual. Abstract and concrete think is always applied.
Abstract thinking is a hard for the students. Trying to visualize things they do not see. I find that hands on works best when possible. Visual aids when possible also help.
Concrete thinking is the foundation in order to use abstract thinking to solve problems.
An example would be problem solving an inoperative compressor clutch in an air conditioning system. Concrete thinking would be used to read pressure and voltage readings from test equipment.
Abstract thinking would be using that information to make the connection to how and if those readings could be causing the compressor clutch not to be activated by the processor.
I believe both are necessary for automotive problem solving.
The first thing that needs to be done is earning their respect. After that is done we can start on talking about the concrete base that they will be building the carrer on that they have chosen.Abstract thinking is what were and how they are puting the foundation at.With the choices the make on the journery through live will be key to the rest of their life.
Hi Jason,
You are following a very sound educational format as you build learning sequences for students. This way they get both a solid foundation as well as expertise in problem solving.
Gary
Hi Lyle,
This is a good way to give the students a solid foundation upon which they can build so they can use abstract concepts to trouble shoot situations and find solutions.
Gary
I think that the amount that each is being used is dependant on which class we are teaching. Many of our course have very hands on oriented lab excercises where the students get to use the conrcrete thinking, while other classes deal a lot with diagnostics which can be viewed from an abstract point of view. I like to give my technicians real world scenarios then try to replicate them in lab so that they can get a real mix of the two so that they do not get bored with one or the other.
We use concrete thinking for the student to develop the fundamentals of how a system works.
Then more abstract thinking is neede to apply that knowlege to a problem on the vehicle.
When teaching performance engine building,concrete facts combined with abstract thinking often produce the best results. Improving any system will not happen unless we are able to combine the two concepts.
Concrete thinking is always used in our class.
Being a production class they have to depend on everything they have learned in all the previous classes and because of their concrete thinking they are allowed some abstract thinking by maybe changeing the recipes a little.
Teaching electronics is about connecting the abstract concepts to concrete applications. The students tend to see anything electrical with abstract. By applying and connecting concepts, using test equipment, visual results or lack of; they are able to practice and learn that diagnosing connects the two.
Hi Joseph,
Well said. The students need to learn how to use the concrete to make abstract applications. This way they will be able to problem solve more effectively.
Gary
We use concrete thinking for a lot of our courses based on the information and the hands on learnings the student's have had in the courses before they get to our course. We are using concrete learning to develop the student hands on skills by building on their earlier learnings. Abstract thinking comes into play when the student has to use his mind to see how things work when he or she has little hands on learning experience. We use a lot of blended learning activites to help the students integrate both concrete and abstract methods. The end result is a student that now has the skills needed to follow their dreams.
Concrete, we explain in the class room that there are some things that don’t change. The four strokes of an engine don’t change, that's concrete. We also explain that there are several ways to come up with the correct conclusion for the failure. I order for a student to visualize what’s going on in side the component is where abstract thinking comes in. Giving examples of both concrete and abstract thinking is part of our everyday life.
