I watched the 1-hour tape of Eric Mazur's recent NSF-sponsored satellite
broadcast. I found it thought provoking, with lots of data and insights,
and done in a satisfying way. I took some notes which are summarized
below. Those of you who heard Mazur speak several years ago will find food
for thought, for he continues to improve on his teaching method, resulting
in continued improvement in student achievement.
The tape is of most direct interest to college folk, probably, but high
school teachers would find it of interest, too. It would be interesting to
show it in a local physics alliance meeting or AAPT section meeting,
followed by a discussion.
For information on Mazur's new book and his teaching materials, point your
web browser to his home page: http://galileo.harvard.edu/Mazur-www/Education
(Chemistry departments are using his techniques, too; their web sites are
linked.)
Cheers,
Jane Jackson
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Summary of 1-hour tape: UNDERSTANDING OR MEMORIZATION: ARE WE TEACHING THE
RIGHT THING? by Prof. Eric Mazur, Dept.of Physics, Harvard University.
(Nov. 12, 1996)
Eric Mazur is an experimentalist in molecular and condensed matter physics.
In 1990 he wasn't familiar with the AAPT. By traditional standards he was
succeeding in his teaching of calculus-based physics to sections of 250
engineers and pre-meds. On end of semester questionnaires he got very good
ratings (4.5 out of 5 points).
In 1990 he came across four of David Hestenes' articles, including the
Force Concept Inventory (FCI), which he read and said, "not my students!"
So he gave his students the FCI and was shocked at their poor performance!
About that time the Dean at Harvard gave him and other faculty members
Sheila Tobias' book entitled THEY'RE NOT DUMB, THEY'RE DIFFERENT. The Dean
asked them to come to a meeting to discuss it. In the book he discovered
that humanity majors have complaints about science courses, but not
vice-versa; problems include frustration, low enrollments, and lack of
innovation.
What is the cause of these problems? Are we teaching the right thing? For
example, 40% of his students thought that, when a golf ball is in the air
after being hit, the "force of the hit" acts on it. "Is this a semantic
problem?" he asked. To find out, on a midterm exam he paired a traditional
calculational problem with a conceptual problem in DC circuits. Students
averaged 8 points out of 10 on the calculational problem, but only 3 out of
10 on the conceptual! He found out that, rather than understanding, his
students were memorizing.
What's the remedy? Peer instruction. He focuses on concepts during class.
After lecturing for 5 minutes or so, he poses a conceptual question to the
class. Students think for a minute,then record an answer. They then try to
convince their neighbor for a couple of minutes. They record a second
answer. He polls them and gives feedback. (He uses ClassTalk nowadays.)
(Other ingredients make up his successful course, too: he requires them to
hand in a 2-paragraph summary of what they've read, at the beginning of
each class. For that they get a bonus point which has some bearing on the
final exam. Students will do anything for points, he laughingly says.)
His classes do much better on the FCI now, and their problem solving
ability has improved, too. Furthermore, they like it better; as one
student said, "You're at the GIVING end now, not just the receiving end."
Jane Jackson (Prof. of Physics, Scottsdale Comm. College--on leave)
Dept.of Physics, Box 871504, Arizona State Univ.,Tempe AZ 85287-1504.
jane.jackson@asu.edu (602)965-8438 FAX:965-7331
Modeling Workshop Project: http://modeling.la.asu.edu/modeling.html