Re: Problems in Education

[Rick Tarara <rbtarara@SPRYNET.COM>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Edmiston, Mike" <edmiston@BLUFFTON.EDU>
> If we cannot expect 30-60 minutes a night for homework in junior high,
60-90 minutes a night for high school, and 1-2 hours out of class for each
hour in class for college... and if we cannot expect students to spend this
time in a manner that enhances their personal understanding of the
material... then I don't see how any curriculum is going to succeed.  If
"having a life outside of class" is the current standard for education, then
we must change that standard or else accept the dumbing down of America.  I
don't see any way to have "less is more" if this is understood as less time
spent can yield more learned.  That "ain't gonna happen."
>

In my view, we also can't just move the 'homework experience' into the
classroom (as it appears that some interactive pedagogies try to do) and
believe we have conducted a successful course.  There is a minimum amount of
content needed--we can quibble about how much--and success on one or two
specialized tests does not prove one has 'learned' physics.   For at least
some of the clientele of physics courses, a broad knowledge of the subject,
some demonstratable skills in problem solving, and the ability to design and
analyze labs (and maybe communicate the results) seems desirable.

My education was in the exact same time frame as Michael's, and can attest
to the constant stream of homework.  Daily spelling and vocabulary tests
(requiring home study) were the norm through grade 8 (Parochial school), and
my arms still ache when I think about dragging books back and forth from
home to high school.  College required almost nightly sessions working on
problems--math and physics--and reading for other courses.   Do we really
believe that we can teach a small subset of the content material--HOWEVER
WELL WE MIGHT DO IT--and the students will pick up the rest on their own?
We may well be in an era where we are going to have to help instruct
students on how to DO HOMEWORK and how to interact with the material and
each other, but I agree with Michael that if they are not going to do this
outside the classroom, then the whole educational enterprise is in serious
trouble.

[Another aspect of the problem that we've discussed before is reading
skills, and part of that problem is simply that students do not read, and
are not expected to read under many current curricula.  Is this not most
likely because they won't read outside the school environment?  What can't
be read in study-hall doesn't get read so don't try to assign more than one
or two readings per semester.]

In the end this has to fall back on our expectations (at all educational
levels) and what we will accept and what we won't.  We are doomed when (as
in the local school district)  the standard for 'passing' has been reduced
(due to budget problems  such that only students who fail FOUR core subjects
(previously TWO) are held back AND any such student who attends Summer
school gets automatically passed on (no requirements about achieving
anything during the 3 week session.)

I have to admit that I'm lucky enough to be at a school (private, Catholic,
women's school) where most students actually WILL do the work assigned.  To
be sure, in my Gen Ed class, I sneak it up on them, starting out with not
much more than reading the text (OK, that they don't do), study for the
quizzes, and keep their lab books up to date, but then hit them with a
couple of papers that they can't find or copy from the internet and by
second semester get them into a couple major projects.  I'm up-front with
the amount of outside work the courses will take, but also design the course
syllabus to reward completion of homework, labs, and projects to the point
where almost anyone CAN pass the course by just being diligent.  To earn
above a B- requires that they demonstrate some understanding of the
materials and some skills (in the courses with problem solving components)
and earning an A means something.  Some students in the Gen Ed course will
complain that it is more work than they feel a 101 level course should ask,
but on the whole, I get very few complaints about the work load.  So maybe
one key is just to EXPECT the outside work, reward it (but not to
extremes--the whole extra credit thing), and stick to your guns.  I know
such doesn't fly at all institutions where administrative pressures can
subvert the efforts of instructors to maintain standards and integrity, but
most of us can (and most on this list probably do) approach courses this
way.

Done rambling,

Rick

*************************************************
Richard W. Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556
219-284-4664
rtarara@saintmarys.edu

FREE PHYSICS INSTRUCTIONAL SOFTWARE
www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/software.html
NEW:  Photo Realistic Laboratory Simulations
XP compatible updates now available.
**********************************************************