It's having the right questions

Olin is a small undergraduate engineering school in Needham, Massachusetts, with a total enrollment of 350 students, 45% of them are women.  Dr. Richard Miller is Olin's founding and current president.  Olin aspires to "redefine" engineering as a profession of innovation encompassing (1) the consideration of human and societal needs; (2) the creative design of engineering systems; and (3) the creation of value through entrepreneurial effort and philanthropy.

Olin is the subject of a chapter in Tony Wagner's excellent Creating Innovators.  Miller was interviewed for the book and had the following comments:

"We're trying to teach students to take initiative - to transmit attitudes, motivations, and behaviors versus mere knowledge," Miller continued.  "Today, it's not what you know, it's having the right questions.  I see three stages in the evolution of learning.  The first stage is the memorization-based, multiple-choice approach, which is still widely prevalent; then there's project-based learning where the problem is already determined; finally, there's design-based learning where you have to define the problem.  That way of learning is part of every class here.  We are trying to teach students how to frame problems versus repeat the answers."