Teaching

"Marcel loves to teach.  He is exceptionally well spoken, with a keen sense of humor, and an engaging personality.  As the father of three, Marcel is well aware of the challenges involved in communicating sophisticated scientific principles to his audience and does so most successfully."  

Dr. M.T. Auer, Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Fellow, Great Lakes Research Center at MTU

Teaching philosophy

I believe that the best way students can learn is in a positive environment where it is safe to ask questions and share insights. I create such an environment by having fun and showing students the beauty of how things are put together. I like to present my material as a "story" and take the students along on an adventure in which they discover the key teaching concepts for themselves. In this way I see myself more as a facilitator, providing the right conditions and materials to learn.

It is my goal to stimulate the development of critical thinking skills and problem-solving strategies as these are essential for success in the environmental engineering field. I use (leading) questions to stimulate students to think and will lead students to discover the answer for themselves. 

It is my belief that all students can be motivated if appealed to their curiosity, it sometimes takes more effort to find what motivates a student and some may be smarter and learn faster than others. I feel however greatly rewarded if a student with a bad self-image suddenly finds out that he/she can grasp a difficult concept. 

In developing class material I integrate experiences I have from my research projects, developing industrial parks and from my hobbies (especially sustainable energy projects). 

I am a teacher that will ask students many questions and will give them time to think possible answers through. I really enjoy student teacher interaction in class and feel it helps the students to comprehend the topics I teach. I love to support my class lectures with current newspaper articles and video clips. This keeps the classes dynamic and links our class material to the “real” world.