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Re: constructivism, was quantization



LUDWIK KOWALSKI wrote:

Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 Hugh Logan <hlogan@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

... one is disappointed to find out how little is understood by the
students after attending lectures.

Donald Simanek once formulated the most basic law of learning. He wrote
NOTHING WORKS UNLESS STUDENTS WORK? Attending lectures should be only the
first step. The whole point of constructivist's practice, as I understand
it, is to impose active participation during the time which would otherwise
be devoted to lecturing. But even this does not work if there is no desire
to learn independently at home. Trivial? Yes. Worth repeating?

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned so far is that many, if not
most, students at less wealthy colleges have part-time jobs that leave
little time for study. I often saw my students working in stores. This
is also true of high school students at public schools. The standard
course load at our college is five courses, but it was not unusual for
students to be taking six courses -- at least a few years ago. I went to
a private secondary school (on a scholarship, not being wealthy). For
such students school activities are a full-time occupation. It was
similar in college; a few students might have worked in the university
cafeteria, but not much more than that. One would hope
that constructivist and other forms of teaching involving student
participation could make better use of the time they do have.

Hugh Logan