The intent of this book is to describe how a professor can provide a
learning en vironment that assists students to come to grips with the
nature of science and engineering, to understand science and engineering
concepts, and to solve problems in science and engineering courses. As
such, this book is intended to be useful for any science or engineering
professor, who wants to change their course to include more effective
teaching methods, to instructors at post-secondary institutions, who are
beginning their careers, and as a handbook for TA's. Since the book is
based upon articles that I have had published in Science Educational
Research and which are grounded in educational research that I have
performed (both quantitative and qualitative) over many years, it will
also be of interest to anyone engaged in research into teaching science
and engineering at the post-secondary level. I have also tried to
include enough background so that the book could be used as a te- book
for a course in educational practice in science and engineering. The
book has two main axes of development. Firstly, how do we get students
to change their epistemology so that their outlook on the course
material is not that it consists of a tool kit of assorted practices,
classified according to problem type, but rather that the subject
comprises a connected structure of concepts. Secondly, he- ing students
to have a deeper understanding of science and engineering.