Re: internet and education

[Maurice Barnhill <mvb@UDel.Edu>]

kifer/belk wrote:
> As a high school and junior college teacher I am somewhat baffled by
> all
> of the fuss over the current educational fad - the internet.  In
> discussions with many colleagues I have yet to find anyone working on
> a
> project where the internet is a truly beneficial and original aspect
> of
> the project. 
>
> [snip]
>
>          If there are some of you out there that truly use the
> internet (at an
> introductory level) in the classroom I would like to hear how 

What I am doing does not use the internet per se, but it would not work
at all without EMail, and access to Web pages is a definite plus.  I am
teaching a course designed for nonscience majors in college. The course
covers topics in particle physics and cosmology. I use half of the time
in the course to study particle-physics spectroscopy with minimal input
from the instructor.  I give out sheets of particle data -- spins,
charges, masses, lifetimes, and primary decay modes -- and have groups
of students in the class search for simplifying patterns in the data. 
When they find a pattern they write up an "article" for an EMail journal
of which I am the editor.  The paper is "refereed" and when ready for
"publication" goes into a collection which is EMailed to the entire
class.  I use "editorials" in the "journals" and private conversations
to make suggestions as necessary for things to look at, but I never give
an answer or even say that a submitted paper is headed in the wrong
direction. The primary point is not to teach particle physics but to
teach how science works.  I have done this twice so far.  One class
found the SU3 groupings with minimal help and was beginning to think
about quarks using a hint in the textbook.  The other class needed a bit
of intervention to see the groupings and never got to anything
resembling the quark model. Both classes showed evidence of real
understanding of what it means to work as a scientist and of the
importance of the publication process to scientific progress.  They also
learned a little particle physics.  A significant number get really
excited about the process.
    Over the semester, the class as a whole (50-60 students) generates
around 75 papers averaging 300 words each. On the average I must look at
each paper twice, and once accepted the papers have to be collected into
a journal issue, so the process would be impossible without using a
computer network. I keep the particle data up to date [inserting the
names of identified particles for example] on a web page, and this
spring one group of students provided their papers as web pages.  I
could not give this course if the students did not have network access.

> - I see it
> as the current educational buzzword that will soon dissipate in the
> winds of educational examination.  It seems to be the current
> technological quick-fix for "what ails education" (those who are old
> enough think back to 8mm film loops and cassette tape players, to
> filmstrips with coordinated records, to interactive videodiscs - all
> were the ultimate solutions to educations woes).   Without addressing
> the deemphasis of the importance of education as its own reward -not
> to
> get big $$$ , but just to know how to know we will continue to lose
> ground in the quest to make assertive learners.

     For whatever it may be worth, I agree that the internet is not
likely to revolutionize education.  I do think that it is the best
single tool that I have available for increasing the self-reliance of my
students.  There is enough misinformation on the net that we are going
to have to train our students how to judge the reliability of the
sources they find, which to my mind is all to the good.  The internet at
its best also converts learning from passive to active, and we can
always use another tool that encourages active learning. 
-- 
Maurice Barnhill, mvb@udel.edu                
http://www.physics.udel.edu/~barnhill/          
Physics Dept., University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716