'This is how we make installation education accessible to people with ADHD, dyslexia or autism'

"I'm college-educated, but I can't remember which side of the faucet has hot and cold on it," says Robert Boots. He was diagnosed with ADHD several years ago, and then he suddenly understood what he had been struggling with all his life. Now he wants to explain to everyone what neurodiversity is and how education can be improved.

In MBO in particular, Boots says there should be much more attention paid to people who absorb knowledge differently than the average person. "Everyone is different, engineering education should take that into account."

Mnemonics

"You have to realize that someone is very intelligent but still can't remember something," says Boots. "For example, I have to use mnemonics. World Champion. WC, that indicates the place of hot and cold when I'm standing in front of a faucet."

Boots advocates a completely different way of teaching. He hears from students that they are completely satiated after a whole day of lessons. "Their heads are full, and they still don't get it, or can't memorize it. If I explain something to them in 3 to 4 hours, they say, 'I get it, my head is fresh and I'll never forget it again.'"

Simultaneous practice and theory

Boots, for example, has noticed an increasing number of digital and online lessons within engineering education. "There is even a start now on fully digital exams with only multiple choice questions," he says. "In doing so, there is no room for interpretation at all." That, he says, is asking for trouble for people who see, think and learn just a little differently than the average person. "Many people with ADHD, dyslexia or autism, they don't make it!" he stresses. "They sometimes have to take more than two exams. This excludes people we desperately need in the industry." According to Boots, it puts the required knowledge very far away from practice, while, according to him, practice should always be well connected to theory. And vice versa.

Practice and theory are taught separately in current education. "Sometimes there is as much as two weeks between theory and practical lessons on the same subject," Boots continues. "That doesn't work; then everyone has already forgotten everything. Instead, you have to teach theory and practice at the same time and link them together."

Ten minutes of explanation

So he himself works entirely from practice, with practical examples and a very clear practical set-up. In that setup, different types of heat pumps are mounted on a back wall. The outdoor units are mounted on a brick back wall. The indoor units and the boiler hang on the gray background of a central heating room or utility room, and the heat output on colored backgrounds representing different rooms. Thus, without any explanation, it is clear to anyone what hangs where. "Someone who is not technical can use this to explain in ten minutes what types of heat pumps there are and how they work."

He has since sold the practical set-up to an MBO school in Roermond. There it is now actually being used in education. Boots hopes that the setup can be further improved as a result, because there are always exceptions and people who need a different explanation.

Boots is convinced that if you include the explanation to that one neurodivergent student in your next classroom explanation, it will be found that the entire class benefits. "That makes the knowledge transfer more inclusive, but everyone's time is used more efficiently. And that's what we want in education. Right?"

Next Friday at VSK+E , Robert Boots will give a presentation on how installation education can be improved.
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