January 17, 2012

Note to Faculty: Don't Be Such a Know-It-All

By Dan Berrett

Charlottesville, Va.

When Archie L. Holmes Jr. teaches introductory engineering classes at the University of Virginia, he asks his students to come up with problems for him to solve in front of them. He calls the exercise "Stump the Chump."

As Mr. Holmes, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, works through the problems, his students will watch him in real time as he pursues dead ends, crosses out equations and starts over, and reconsiders his assumptions to get to the

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