My first experiences as a teacher came while I was in the U.S. Army. We were told to "tell them what you are going to tell them—tell them—and tell them what you told them." I have found that this is an extremely effective approach when teaching engineering subjects, wherein organization and logical development are so very important.

Technology moves so rapidly that the challenges and problems of tomorrow are certain to be different than those of today, and it is probable that most of tomorrow's problems will come as surprises, since our ability to predict the future is very poor. I believe that the best way to adapt is to have a thorough mastery of first principles, as these never change and can always be applied to new problems. I emphasize this to the students and encourage them to think conceptually and to look for common links between different disciplines and how the solution to one problem can often be used for a seemingly unrelated problem. For example, similar "laws" govern hydraulic, chemical, thermal, and heat flows through materials, and the mathematics used to describe one flow type can easily be used to describe another.

Students in my field of geotechnical engineering are particularly interested in the relevance of what they are learning to real-world problems. The best way I know to drive important points home is to make ample use of case histories, many drawn from my own experiences in geotechnical engineering research and consulting practice, to illustrate how what we are talking about is really used.

I encourage students to consider alternative points of view. I encourage them to ask questions. My lecturing style is one of continual questioning of the class in order to keep them thinking, and to let them feel the satisfaction of seeing the next step or reaching the answer before I get there. My homework assignments and examinations are deliberately set to require recall, to pose problems that involve direct application of the concepts and methods that have been developed in the class and laboratory, and to stimulate those who are able to extend their thinking to problems that go well beyond what they have been shown how to do. I offer wide latitude in the selection of term paper or project assignments so that a student can develop more in-depth knowledge about an aspect of the course that is of special interest.

There are no substitutes for knowledge of subject, organization, and enthusiasm. With these ingredients there is no shame in saying""I don't know" from time to time when a student comes up with a real puzzler. I have also found that sometimes in this situation I am able to develop an answer, a new hypothesis, or a new way to look at an idea on the spot. When this happens and the class is with me, the exhilaration of being a teacher at Berkeley reaches its peak.