Division of Professional Practice | Curriculum Materials

In the early 1900s, when Herman Schneider, Dean at the University of Cincinnati - College of Engineering, developed the cooperative education curriculum, he developed an educational initiative that has transcended time, disciplines and programs. Schneider’s cooperative system of education introduced the concept of linking classroom instruction with practical experience.

As a young civil engineering instructor, Dean Schneider noticed that the students who best grasped the subject matter of the course also had practical engineering experience. This led him to believe that fundamental theories would have more meaning if students could study the use of that theory in actual practice. As pictures in a text or demonstrations in a lab, the tools of engineering could only be abstract concepts until the students actually began to work with them. As students operated various types of machinery, the machine’s latent educational value emerged. For example, as students worked with a lathe their minds would start to ask questions. Why is this machine designed this way? Why do I need to add a lubricant? What would happen if I added more or less?

Complete answers to those questions might require further study, however the students’ motivation and curiosity had been aroused and their thinking had been directed along productive lines. Schneider’s observations on the way that students learn led him to develop the model of cooperative education which provided his students with a more comprehensive education than the traditional classroom model.

As cooperative education has evolved, the model has changed over the years. Schneider’s original Cincinnati Plan consisted of two students paired in a position alternating on a weekly basis. His students would spend one week in school and the next week on the job. Every Saturday morning all the students would meet with Schneider to discuss their experiences and tie those experiences to their classroom instruction.

Although completely inefficient by today’s standards, this model illustrates the fact that cooperative education was not designed to be an add-on to the curriculum. It was designed to be an integral part of the educational process. Clearly the founder of cooperative education did not envision it as a way for students to pay for their education or to enhance their resume. Schneider developed cooperative education as a teaching methodology to educate his engineering students. As you begin participation in the Professional Practice Program you will be following in the footsteps of countless students who have benefited from Dean Schneider’s vision.