Case Study: Ryerson University achieves more exploratory engineering teaching with Maplesoft MapleSim

Ryerson University uses Maplesoft’s MapleSim in third-year engineering classes to teach inductive learning

Ryerson University engineering professor Dr. James Andrew Smith sought to move away from traditional deductive teaching methods in his third-year electrical engineering courses, which he felt were an impediment to deep student comprehension. He wanted to introduce a more exploratory, inductive approach to learning concepts like robotics and operational amplifiers. To facilitate this, he used MapleSim from Maplesoft.

The solution implemented was an inductive teaching approach where students used Maplesoft's MapleSim to draw schematics, run simulations, and extract underlying equations to derive conclusions themselves. This allowed students to explore systems and connect analytic models from textbooks to numeric simulations, reinforcing their understanding. The results were improved student comprehension and the ability to extend basic examples into multi-domain, real-life illustrations, providing a more comprehensive view of engineering concepts. Dr. Smith concluded that MapleSim is a critical tool for enabling this modern paradigm of knowledge generation through interaction.

Ryerson University