Fall 2026 Faculty Reading Community
How to Learn to Think like a Skilled Engineer or Scientist and How to Teach It
Fall 2026 Faculty Reading Community
This fall the Faculty Reading Community will explore the new book How to Learn to Think like a Skilled Engineer or Scientist and How to Teach It by Carl Wieman.
Wieman, winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in physics, is emeritus professor of physics and education at Standford University. In recent years he has dedicated himself to improving STEM education through projects like the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative. In his latest book, scheduled to be published this summer, he lays out his vision of what successful STEM education looks like at the college level.
More about the book from the publisher
This book presents a radical approach for better teaching that is firmly grounded in research on the nature and development of expertise in science and engineering. It is based on the author’s decades of experience in both teaching and research. The book argues for changing the focus of post-secondary education from the accumulation of knowledge to equipping learners to become better decision makers and problem solvers and then provides research-based principles for how to teach to achieve this outcome, including what is necessary to develop expertise and the nature of technical expertise. It explains why decision-making and related problem-solving are uniquely valuable aspects of technical expertise that are neglected in conventional instruction and then presents how to teach these skills through focused practice. The book describes in detail how a teacher designs good practice tasks for students. It then covers how to effectively implement such practice in the classroom. Finally, it provides practical advice about the other aspects of education, such as homework, exams, grading, and the use of artificial intelligence.
Community Details
The faculty reading community will be co-facilitated by Eric Fournier, Director of Educational Development at the Center for Teaching and Learning and Jay Tuner, Head of the Division of Engineering Education, Vice Dean for Education, and James McKelvey Professor of Engineering Education at the McKelvey School of Engineering.
Reading community meeting times and dates will be determined closer to the start of the fall semester. Our faculty reading communities usually meet 3-5 times over the course of a semester. Faculty will receive a print copy of the book courtesy of the CTL.
If you may be interested in participating in this reading community, please complete the form below and we will contact you once the schedule and other details are finalized.