ABSTRACT
In 1829 a businessman and a group of French scientists and engineers established an engineering school to serve industry. Building on the French excellence in theoretical engineering they developed a pedagogy based on the concept of “vulgarization” that enabled engineers to function in both theory and practice equally well rather than simply learning how to apply predeveloped theory to practice. The method they used: a combination of intellectual communication, visual learning through drawing and tactile learning through workshop experience. The graduates of the program later helped develop the industrialized form of iron construction. They gained their initial professional experience in railway construction, the only field that used iron consistently as an industrially produced material in the first half of the 19th century. The school’s pedagogy was successful and led to the industrialization of iron construction by the middle of the century. It also initiated changes in existing programs worldwide.
