Sequential and concurrent teaching: structuring hands-on methodology

The discussion of hands-on teaching methodology is taken beyond the general principles of active learning and learning by doing, and on the basis of teaching experiments conducted at PUC-Rio a set of techniques are presented that make it possible to shift the focus from the teacher to the learner. The paper describes two opposing approaches to teaching, shown as extreme types: sequential teaching and concurrent teaching. By comparing these two approaches, examining their advantages and their drawbacks, a mixed methodology is defined that is appropriate to the teaching of engineering today.