Mass Fiery Influx
Posted by Kris on August 28th, 2007
I haven’t gotten but a few microseconds of time to mess with fire modeling or fire dynamics since I got back from Maryland only a couple of weeks ago. One gets tied up with moving and taking on administrative duties, and before you realize where your mind is on the map, you are buried thousands of layers in paperwork and the such.
Still, my brain needs its free time to wander.
So I think about fire - and education - and how it might change in the next ten years. The current student generation of computer users and fire protection engineers are going through an interesting time in which technology is emerging faster than most can comprehend, like a breezy wind through the desert. But often, students that I see will only gather the first level understanding of things to come. Right click here, see this, write down that result - computer says it - must be right. And I am left wondering about the flames that were lost in the fire due to a lack of thought. I suppose that I am wrong in thinking that all engineering students are by default very analytical or wanting to question deeper into the science behind these ideas.
But I wonder, if the younger generation of students is learning Linear Algebra and Calculus in high school, and the dead ends that we hit with technology each and every day will be vanished in 10 or 15 years, what will happen to the analysis of fire science, or all scientific research for that matter? Sure, we all have tools like Excel and MATLAB to utilize, but what good are they without mindful innovation, mental articulation, and a true understanding of fire? That should be the title of a fire protection college course in itself. Think of the obstacles such as log tables and huge calculation sheets that held back the previous engineers because so much tedious work was involved. With these modern day hindrances (tedious computer keystrokes or manual/static ways of computing) removed, will the analytical eye of the mind in the next generation grow bigger and bigger and be able to see more than we can and comprehend the truly important?
I can only hope so. And this is why I love learning and teaching conceptually, rather than rambling off beefed-up instruction sets, cumbersome lists, bland methods, or Powerpoint presentations (the postmodern lecturer’s brain babysitter) that will be outdated in a year or two. Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? You should see what I see - teachers teaching and not at all being understood by their numerous, willing students - and not just in my small field of interest.
I desperately want change, learning, and understanding to occur in mass around me, and will do to my best effort to see it happen - even starting right now in my life. But for now, I have to finish filling out these forms and paperwork necessary to request the starting of these valiant efforts.
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