Re: Squeezing time or squeezing students

[George Spagna <gspagna@rmc.edu>]

At 09:11 AM 8/6/97 -0400, Jerry Hester wrote:
> In trying to change the labs here I tend to think that it would be
> really nice to have 3 hour labs rather than the current 2 hours.  This
> seems to me that it would allow time for some discovery learning and
> possibly even time that students could do some actual writing.  I also
> would prefer the current 24 student cap on section enrollment.  
>
> The problem is there are not enough hours in the week to allow enough 3
> hour sections of 24 students.
>
> So would it be better to go with 3 hour sections of 30 students or the
> current 2 hour sections of 24?

You don't mention the actual space/apparatus constraints:

Is there room enough for 30 students to work without interfering with each
other?

Would increasing the size of the section increase the number of students
working together as a lab team?

Do you have enough apparatus for a 30-student lab?

If  ...  you have the room, and if you have the apparatus, and if you can
increase the section size without increasing the size of the lab team

Then  ... go for the 3-hour lab, and consider using trained undergraduate
student assistants to ease the load on the instructor.

Otherwise, you might lose more than you gain.
George Spagna           ******************************************
Department of Physics   *                                        *
Randolph-Macon College  * "To see the world for a moment as      *
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phone: (804) 752-7344   *             - Edward M. Purcell        *
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e-mail: gspagna@rmc.edu ******************************************
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