Hydraulic Analogy Method for Phenomenological Description of the Learning Processes of Technical University Students

Abstract

A physical process analogy of the learning process was studied using a hydraulic method. Detailed educational guidance describing applied pedagogical concepts for technical instructors of the civil, mechanical, chemical and materials engineering disciplines was formulated. A unified engineering-friendly formulation of learning processes using a direct analogy of civil, mechanical, chemical and materials engineering physical processes was developed. Generalized expressions were proposed for an approximate description of learning processes in the educational curriculum in the form of hydraulic processes in civil, mechanical, chemical and materials engineering practice. It was shown that it is possible to intensify students' attention to the studied technical material through a step-by-step building of a proposed analogy between hydraulic and learning processes, which is based on the similarity between corresponding mathematical models for both processes. Hard-working students have the prime educational problem of managing the growing overload and holding in their memory a cumbersome quantity of studied material in technical, social and human sciences. The author-proposed educational approach provides a better simultaneous understanding of both hydraulics and didactics by acquiring new inter-disciplinary practical knowledge, which helps learners plan an optimal scientific-based mode for effective study and selfstudy of educational material. This educational research helps students to remember that it is impossible to learn the studied material at the required level of understanding with a single onetime acquaintance without multiple reviews and repetitions.