Peuker, Steffen  

He's a helpful guy, and is pretty excited about the class. The class is an easy A if you just do what he says. He has a strong German accent btw.

He sucks in nutshell. He quizzes you on the most irrelevant small details such as random numbers or dates that have nothing to do with the assigned reading. While the nazi accent makes the class slightly more interesting, he is pretty boring.

This class is useless. It entails reading, memorizing, and listening to Peuker recite a textbook written by a chimpanzee with brain damage and a dysfunctional typewriter. It includes captivating chapters on myriad topics, such as "Communicating With Your Professors via Text Messaging," "You Can Do It!", and "Designing Your Process for Becoming a World-Class First-Year Engineering Student." For the latter, I'm pretty sure step one should be "Don't read this fucking book because it will literally give you cancer." Assuming you torrented a PDF of the book, even calling it bullshit isn't accurate – it ain't even useful as fertilizer. You get to spend a full class period discussing a fairy tale about dragons, though, so I guess that's a plus?

Most useless class ever. He makes it a huge deal, and it isn't worth it. This class should be an hour at most, not two. His lectures are him just going over the chapter that YOU WERE REQUIRED TO READ THE WEEK BEFORE. Also, most involved quizzes and general class structure. Worthless. I doubt he has anything better to do. He also hired three (THREE) class TAs.....?????? I don't even know anymore

I have very little to say about Peuker himself as a teacher. ME 163 really doesn't have any teaching involved anyway. He is a nice guy who means well and is obviously very qualified as a professional engineer. The ME 163 class however is not helpful at all. The textbook is more of a technical self-help book to start, and the class in and of itself has nothing to do with the technical side of any subject. No math, no physics, no hands on engine dissection, no fun learning experience. A lot of nit-picky quizzes and weekly text submissions that can be BS'd (which prove that you haven't learned or grown)? Yes, many. The quizzes have trick questions, and large portion of the grade comes from the FSP which is a bane to say the least. It is unfortunate that all freshman ME's have to take this course.

Peuker could be good for other classes, but ME163 is an absolute joke. I hope next years freshmen ME dont have to take this waste of 2 hours FRIDAY EVENING class. This class has taught me how to BS every assignment and expand a once sentence response into 800 words. I honestly get frustrated even thinking about this class.

To be fair to Professor Peuker, the problem is the class itself, more than his teaching. This lecture is 2 hours long for absolutely no reason (in fact, this exact class was 1 hour long in the past). Peuker didn't even fill the class period every time, and instead brought in ASI salesmen for the UU proposal, or professors arguing for the strike (something that should never happen in the classroom). The book was really motivational, but I learned absolutely nothing. I didn't pay for this class to be motivated, however, I came here to learn. If I wasn't already motivated, I wouldn't have come to Cal Poly. The time spent in class is only useful for getting a grade for the in-class quizzes on the readings, some of which have trick questions that the entire class gets wrong. Instead of swallowing his pride when this happens, Peuker says a formal petition must be made. At times, he was also incredibly unprofessional. There were multiple times that he refused to answer the questions of students, and not because they were not appropriate questions, but because he simply didn't want to. The best use of your time in class is to work on the homework and tune out his lecture entirely, as you won't learn anything not already covered in the textbooks. I found this class to be disrespectful to my time and money, and I am sorry that future ME students will have to take it. It'll be easy, but you'll hate it nonetheless.

This class is required for MEs, but honestly it's completely useless. Go to class and do the homework and you'll get an A, but don't expect to enjoy it. The experimental class setup is super annoying, but it doesn't make the class any harder.

This class was the most useless class I have ever taken. Complete waste of time. He did a horrible job of keeping us engaged, gave us middle school-esque busy work, and overall just treated us like children. We had to turn in a 10-12 page paper simply outlining how we can "become better mechanical engineering students". To start, I would stop wasting my own time by writing papers about nonsensical bullshit. I absolutely hated this class. The only upside is that I was on my laptop throughout the entire class and applied for lots of internships, and I actually got one that I applied for when I was in this class. That was the most helpful part.

I quite literally learned nothing in this major specific class. I don't understand how Cal Poly can force its students to take a class that is genuinely a waste of time.

This class and teacher is absolute garbage. It is basically learning how to "learn". You get a weekly quiz which you take by yourself and one that you take with a team. He then lectures for one hour on the material you read the night before. He also assigns a bunch of retarded essays which teaches you how to write the most amount of BULLSHIT given the least amount of material. Some of these prompts include "Write about your personal strategies to overcome barriers to choosing productive actions." This german nazi is just a waste of fucking time. Bring your laptop so you can play video games while Peuker gives his manifesto.

Honestly, there's no way to avoid Peuker and his class because you have to take it and you have to take it with him...with that being said, Peuker still is really sub par at best. The course material requires basically 0 teaching so you'll be fine anyways (the entire class is basically how not to suck at school). His iRat and tRat quizzes range from insanely easy to there being multiple possible correct answers because he is so specific to the wording of the textbook. His lectures are completely a repeat of the reading but feature hilariously dumb pictures on every slide so it isn't the worst. The homework assignments suck and if you miss one due date on an assignment you can't finish it. Because of this, I got a 0 on one assignment. The Peukers save you at the end by offerring two not anonymous surveys at the end that will drop your lowest homework and iRat score which is the only reason I'll get an A instead of a B-. However, they know who submitted the surveys so you can't really be honest, basically the surveys are probably the only reason this dumbass class still exists.

This was literally the easiest class that I have ever taken. You just go for two hours a week, listen to him tell you how to succeed at life, and do the homework real quick (I usually did it in lecture the week before it was due). A lot of people got C's in this class because they didn't realize that there was homework and online quizzes every week. Otherwise, easy pass. Also, Peuker is super passionate about the material and if you want to talk about an HVAC concentration or want him to point you to someone to talk to about another concentration, he is super helpful.

Peuker himself isn't boring, but the class he teaches is. I'm pretty sure he knows this is a boring class, but it is required, and he teaches in the best of his ability. I'm surprised that his ratings are so low. It's a really boring class, but I'd just do the online quizzes and assignments during class to not waste time outside of class. I wouldn't recommend getting the book at all. It's an easy A if you just do all the homework and quizzes on time. He also grades fairly easy on the essays and assignments, literally as long as you do them, he gives you an A. He gives you 3 tries for each one of the online quizzes that are due weekly. I wouldn't skip class cause he grades on participation. He's also the only teacher I had that emails students back. He's nice and really cares about students succeeding in ME.

Peuker should not have low ratings as he is a very nice guy. The class itself, however, was not very useful. I normally did homework from other classes during the block, though, so it didn't really bother me. It's an easy A for everyone who does the homework--which is a bit much for a one unit class but not hard at all. It essentially just is a class giving tips for doing well in engineering so it is all pretty self explanatory.

Class is useless, Peuker is boring. Showing up to class was a waste of time but you had to in order to get an A. Easy A if you do the pointless work, but you really get nothing out of the class. Only times you should pay attention are when guest speakers come in to talk about internships or clubs, but that is it.

Mr. Peuker does not teach. He and Jennifer Peuker use their classes for experimental research. The students are the guinea pigs. If you are expecting to learn thermodynamics or any other subject - DO not take either of the Peukers. Mr. Peuker is fascinated with "team based learning" - a fad on the fringes of higher education - no doubt cooked up by well meaning, but hopelessly delusional sociologists/(publish or perish) educational bureaucrats desperately trying to justify their position in academia. "Hey look everyone, look at the new theory we cooked up". The method of teaching is simple - shower the students with reading assignments and quizzes, and tests ..... and voila that's the new method. It's great for teachers who don't like teaching ... because ... guess what :) they don't have to with this method! The students are assigned random numbers and their performance and "team" performance is tracked throughout the quarter. You are no longer a person, a human being with a name - just a randomly assigned number, locked into a randomly assigned team. The scoring system is setup in such a way that individual scores will always be lower than the team scores - how is this done? Each person - pardon me - each "number" will complete a multiple choice quiz individually, these quizzes are then turned in. Next the "team" repeats the same quiz together - but this time if the team gets an answer wrong, they have three chances to get it right before full points are lost (2pts off for the first wrong answer, 3 for the 2nd wrong answer and so on). In contrast as an individual you get one shot - other wise it is 10pts off for each mistake. What is the reason for all this? Ah .... at the end of the quarter Mr. Peuker wants you to waive your privacy rights so that he can take your "scores" and use it to support the idea that team based learning works - just look - the team scores are higher than the individual scores. But do the students actually learn the material better? No. I am disgusted that Calpoly lets fraud be committed. I'm a hard working student who is paying his own way through school. When I signup for a class in thermodynamics I expect to get what I pay for - a teacher who teaches the material clearly and grades fairly - Mr. Peuker is neither of these and it is fraudulent to call his class a class in thermodynamics. If Mr. Peuker wants to experiment with alternative educational styles that is fine - he can create a new course called Mr Peukers experimental class in ### - but I am not here to be experimented on - I have little time and I don't feel like wasting it as a lab rat. I am a human being not a number, Mr. Peuker can experiment, but not on me, or at my expense. I am saddened that this is allowed to go on at a school of higher education - it shows a lack of respect for the student and the principles that Calpoly was founded on.

Do not take a course with Peuker. Peuker does not lecture at all the entire quarter. He explained a couple concepts, but that added up to about 10 minutes total of him actually explaining things the entire quarter. The rest of the time you are huddled with your group working on the application sheets he hands out. This man could not come to class and it would make no difference. He won't even answer your questions when you ask them in class. Why is he there at all? If you like to read extremely dry engineering textbooks, maybe this is the course for you. His grading system makes it relatively easy to perform well. The final and midterm don't end up being that much of your final grade. I am, however, seriously worried about taking Thermo 2 since I feel he has not prepared us for it at all. It's important to mention that this is an experimental class. You are a part of his study -- he does not have conclusive results that this is an effective learning style. His grade distributions for assignments will make it appear that students are performing better than they are. You will notice other ways that he is likely manipulating the results of his study. It would be nice if Cal Poly would put a warning sign up that you are taking such a course. I guarantee most students wouldn't sign up for this course if they knew. This was his first quarter here, so people reading this review have the benefit of being able to figure it out for themselves. We didn't. Peuker is not approachable and seems to lack a sense of humor. I can count the number of times I've seen him smile on two fingers. Office hours were slightly helpful, but I felt like he was rushing me out of there whenever I went. Here's his grading scale: --Total Individual 60% iRAT: 25% of Ind.Grade Practice Problems: 10% of Ind.Grade Midterm: 25% of Ind.Grade Final: 40% of Ind.Grade --Total Team 40% tRAT: 50% of Team Grade Applications: 50% of Team Grade

TL;DR: Pros: Very learn by doing Grading is pretty fair; tests are same difficulty as problems in class A good team will carry you if you do poorly on the individual stuff (Note, you have to get >60% on individual stuff). Peuker is very logically minded Cons: Hard to get an A if you mess up on the midterm If you get stuck on a crappy team, you're screwed If you learn by being lectured to, this isn't the class format for you Peuker is VERY German... meaning he doesn't have an american sense of humor, and his social skills are very German. He seems like a dick, but he's not. I normally don't write these evaluations, but I feel the other two reviews are unfair, so I'll pretty much say what I said on the ME evaluation. I too am paying my own way through school, and as the other reviews noted, the class is not really lecture based, but rather, team based learning. I can see how this could suck if you are on a team with more than one idiot / lazy person, but fortunately for me, that wasn't the case. Having the applications each day made sure that I read in advance. Peuker did review applications that many people seemed to have problems with. The midterm was exactly in line with the applications. I should have done much better on it, but it was a rough time in the quarter and I fell behind in my reading and practice. Regardless, I found it to be a great way to learn for me. I don't do well in lectures, but rather do well in the "learn by doing" format that Cal Poly espouses. Even if your team gets the application wrong, you'll still get a 7 or 8 on it, so it won't kill your grade. If you're not a kinesthetic learner, but rather an auditory or visual learner as it appears the other two reviewers are, then definitely don't take this class. Then again, you probably shouldn't be at a school that's "Learn by Doing" either. Anyway, the final was a bit harder than the midterm, but I believe that I got an A on it. Unfortunately, all that was worth was pulling me up from a B- to a B. The only thing I wish is that he'd spend part of one day a week, maybe a Friday, doing a mini-lecture to recap what we were supposed to read and what we did our applications on. P.S. You can opt to not sign the waiver, it's not that big of a deal... some of the Materials Engineering classes do the same thing.

RUN....i didn't read the poly ratings, big mistake. He doesn't teach...NO TEACH AT ALL. big supporter on understanding the theory behind everything. I've got 10 weeks to learn a completely new subject, i don't need to understand, i need to know how to do it FIRST! so then i can understand late when i use it in life. by the end, you learn nothing, because literally all of his lecture sums up to 5 min. when you ask him a question, his answer 100% will be "its in the book"...no shit! Some professors get mixed views based on personal judgement, but this one, EVERYONE agrees. worst professor at cal poly. 100% students agree. RUN. don't even think about it. Just don't do it.

I read the Dr. Peuker's poly ratings but took him anyways. I thought, it can't be THAT bad. Yes, yes it was THAT bad. The man DOES NOT TEACH. You are given supplemental notes and are expected to essentially teach yourself thermodynamics. You are given a quiz every week based on what you taught yourself before hand. You are then given modules to work on with your group, which are graded. You are expected to bring something to the table and share information with your group. This process is called "Team Based Learning." Team based learning works well when everyone in the group is willing to help and teach each other because the professor is NOT teaching. I struggled so much in this class and got OWNED every time. I would have loved having some lecture or instruction to more or less clear any doubts from the stuff that I had read before. Also, your grades are primarily the weekly quiz, midterm, and final. Final was a GIANT departure from the midterm as it was INSANE! I whole-fully regret taking Dr. Peuker as it was a giant waste of my quarter as my GPA took a MAJOR hit from the struggles of his class.

Take Peuker if you're up for something fun and unconventional. This class isn't for everyone, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The class took some getting used to, and at first I felt like I was perpetually confused and struggling. However- half way through I realized that I was actually learning and scoring well! The study habits I picked up in his class I now apply to all of my classes. Also, Professor Peuker is very good at pointing you in the right direction, and will help you work through problems and concepts if you just ask!

Didn't learn shit in this class but somehow managed to get a B. the way this class works is he gives you a quiz every week, you turn it it and then you take the same quiz over again with your group. he then expects you to be surprise by the fact that you do better in group quizzes. no shit sherlock.

Okay. Let me start by saying that I retook Thermo with Dr. Peuker and it was the best decision ever! I had LoCascio the first time around and he barely taught us how to read the graphs. Yes, it's all Team-Based Learning-- however the applications (class worksheets) really helped me prepare for the Final. He seriously gives you SO MANY RESOURCES to learn the material: supplemental reading notes, online videos, worksheets. I was lucky to have a team that actually put in work and didn't slack. As long as you go over the Supplemental Reading Notes you should do well on the individual quizzes. The midterm was very fair-- I strongly suggest you study the applications. Yes, he barely lectures. But he is very helpful in office hours as long as you let him know you're attempting. The thermo book is a great investment for this class- don't get the PDF! The book will force you to look at sample problems and do some reading!

I actually can't believe how low Peuker's reviews are. I actually loved the setup of this course - it's a reverse classroom, so at the beginning of each unit you have to do some chapter reading (he provides super thorough supplementary notes that you can fill out as you read), do an online participation quiz (unlimited attempts), and turn in a problem set (5-6 problems, all of which are on chegg) He provided us a free online textbook, which was really convenient. The iRATs/tRATs are quizzes that are based on the concepts for the course - if you did the supplementary notes then you should be able to ace all of them. In class you do problems in teams - I'll admit I may have gotten lucky because my team was really great. If you have a bad team this may be less enjoyable, but I found that being able to discuss the problems with my peers was super helpful for my learning and also made the class go by waaaay faster than a typical lecture. Peuker is hyper-organized, posts tons of resources on his polylearn, and is patient with teams asking repetitive questions. He wants you to do well. Is harsh German-ness takes a little getting used to, but overall I really liked Peuker and this class and found it really effective in learning a foundation in thermodynamics.

Dr. Peuker deserves better ratings. I can understand some frustration with the way the class is set up if you're not used to it, but Dr. Peuker really does everything he can to help you succeed. The supplementary notes posted for each module are excellent and prepare you well for IRATs. I worked for about 2 hours each week outside of class and regularly got 9s and 10s on the IRATs. He's super clear when answering questions in class and his midterm/final are fair. Definitely recommend him over the horrors of Locascio.

Professor S. Peuker knows how to teach thermodynamics. Team-based applications and quizzes improve the learning by tenfold and I wish all my classes exercised that type of learning because it’s actually fun, but also super effective. I can't believe how much of the class I actually learned and retained. My 6 pages of notes sheets, even a quarter later, are super helpful, and I would not have made them had I had a different professor. Peuker forces you to work outside of class on supplemental notes and making notes sheets, but they're usable on the quizzes, and it's not an unreasonable amount of work most of the time. Peuker also allows you to redo your exam for up to half the points you lost, as long as you also reflect on the exam. I really miss this class and I can't say that about a lot of ME classes *cough* statics/dynamics/me251/me236/fluids *cough* (I took ME 302 last quarter).