In response to my post "Science Article on Scientific Teaching"
[Hake (2004)], Bob LaMontagne, in his Phys-L post of 28 Apr 2004
09:25:18-0400, wrote:
"Teaching is an individual art . . . . In my
30 plus years of teaching, I've not seen anyone
be more successful because of 'technique' than
the simple love and expertise in physics itself." . . . . . (1)
Generalizing Bob's statement to:
"Teaching is an individual art . . . . In my
years of teaching, I've not seen anyone in 'X'
be more successful because of 'technique' than
the simple love and expertise for 'X' " . . . . . . . . . . (2)
where "X" = the quotees discipline.
My 25-years experience in academia suggests that most university
professors would probably subscribe to version "(2)".
But just like the NRC's Committee on Undergraduate Education (CUSE),
Bob and most university professors appear to be "stranded on
assessless island" [Hake (2003)]. In that post I wrote [bracketed by
lines "HHHHHHHHH. . . ."; see that post for the references other than
Stokstad (2001), Hake (2002), Powell (2003), McCray et al. (2003),
Handelsman et al. (2004), and Bialek & Botstein (2004)]
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Eric Mazur was aware of the landmark pre/post testing work of Halloun
& Hestenes] [in sharp contrast to McCray et al. (2003) and the NRC
(1997, 1999, 2003)]. Mazur (1997, p. 4) wrote:
"When reading this. . . . .[Halloun & Hestenes (1985a,b; 1987);
Hestenes (1987)]. . . my first reaction was 'Not my students. . .!'
Intrigued, I decided to test my own students' conceptual
understanding, as well as that of physics majors at Harvard. . . . .
the results of the test came as a
shock: The students faired hardly better on the Halloun and Hestenes
test [1985a] than on their midterm exam. Yet the Halloun and
Hestenes test is SIMPLE, whereas the material covered by the
examination (rotational dynamics, moments of inertia) if of far
greater difficulty, or so I thought."
(a) The abrupt average normalized gain <g> increase from 0.25 in 1990
to 0.49 in 1991 when Eric replaced his passive-student lectures (THAT
NETTED VERY POSITIVE STUDENT EVALUATIONS) with the interactive engagement
"Peer Instruction."
(b) The gradual increase in <g> from 0.49 in 1991 to 0.74 in 1997 as
various improvements [Crouch & Mazur (2001)] were made in the
implementation of "Peer Instruction."
The Harvard results are consistent with those from hundreds of other
introductory physics courses employing either traditional or
interactive engagement methods [for a review see Hake (2002)]. And
yet lessons from [education] reform efforts [e.g., Hake (2002),
Stokstad (2001). . . and more recently Powell (2003), Handelsman et
al. (2004) and Bialek & Botstein (2004)] continue to be ignored
throughout academia and the NRC (1997, 1999, 2003), including McCray
et al. (2003) and Zemsky (2003).
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"Few faculty members have any awareness of the expanding knowledge
about learning from psychology and cognitive science. Almost no one
in the academy has mastered or used this knowledge base. One of my
colleagues observed that if doctors used science the way college
teachers do, they would still be trying to heal with leeches."
J.J. Duderstadt (2001), president emeritus of the University of
Michigan, in "A University for the 21st Century."
REFERENCES
Bialek, W. & D. Botstein. 2004. "Introductory Science and Mathematics
Education for 21st-Century Biologists," Science 303: 788-797, 6
February; online for free (entire article to AAAS members, abstract
to guests) at, <http://www.sciencemag.org/search.dtl>, search for
Volume 303, First Page 788. The abstract reads: "Galileo wrote that
'the book of nature is written in the language of mathematics'; his
quantitative approach to understanding the natural world arguably
marks the beginning of modern science. Nearly 400 years later, the
fragmented teaching of science in our universities still leaves
biology outside the quantitative and mathematical culture that has
come to define the physical sciences and engineering. This strikes us
as particularly inopportune at a time when opportunities for
quantitative thinking about biological systems are exploding. We
propose that a way out of this dilemma is a unified introductory
science curriculum that fully incorporates mathematics and
quantitative thinking."
Hake, R.R. 2002. "Lessons from the physics education reform effort,"
Conservation Ecology 5(2): 28; online at
<http://www.consecol.org/vol5/iss2/art28>. Conservation Ecology is a
free "peer-reviewed journal of integrative science and fundamental
policy research" with about 11,000 subscribers in about 108 countries.
Hake, R.R. 2003. "NRC's CUSE: Stranded on Assessless Island?" post
of 3 Aug 2003 12:52:16-0700 to ASSESS, Biopi-L, Chemed-L, EvalTalk,
PhysLrnR, and POD; online at
<http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0308&L=pod&F=&S=&P=391>.
That post was later sent to AERA-D, STLHE-L, Phys-L, and Biolab.
Hake, R.R. 2004. "Science Article on Scientific Teaching," online at
<http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0404&L=pod&O=D&P=23211>.
Post of 27 Apr 2004 22:12:20-0700 to AERA-J, ASSESS, Biopi-L,
Chemed-L, EvalTalk, Math-Teach, Phys-L, PhysLnrR, and STLHE-L (later
sent to AERA-D, AERA-K, and DrEd).
Handelsman, J., D. Ebert-May, R. Beichner, P. Bruns, A. Chang, R.
DeHaan, J. Gentile, S. Lauffer, J. Stewart, S.M. Tilghman, W.B. Wood.
2004. "Scientific Teaching," Science 304 (23): 521-522, April; online
for free (entire article to "Science" subscribers, abstract to
guests) at <http://www.sciencemag.org/search.dtl>, search for Volume
304, First Page 521. Supporting Online Material (SOP) material may be
freely downloaded at
<http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/data/304/5670/521/DC1/1>. The summary
reads: "For more than a decade, reports from expert panels have
called for improvements in science education. There is general
agreement that science courses consisting of traditional lectures and
cookbook laboratory exercises need to be changed. What is required
instead is "scientific teaching," teaching that mirrors science at
its best - experimental, rigorous, and based on evidence. This
"Policy Forum" explores the reasons for the slow pace of change in
the way science is taught at research universities and offers
recommendations for faculty, staff, and administrators at research
universities, funding agencies, and professional organizations in
order to accelerate the reform of science education. To help faculty
initiate change in their own classrooms, this forum includes
extensive resources . . .[unfortunately URL's are not given for many
of the online references] . . . to guide the transition to tested,
effective instructional methods, which include group-learning in
lectures, inquiry-based laboratories, and interactive computer
modules." The complete article may be downloaded for free at
Handelsman's homepage <http://www.plantpath.wisc.edu/fac/joh/joh.htm>
/ "Review Articles" where "/" means "click on," or more directly by
simply clicking on
<http://www.plantpath.wisc.edu/fac/joh/scientificteaching.pdf>
(100kB).
McCray, R.A., R.L. DeHaan, J.A. Schuck, eds. 2003. "Improving
Undergraduate Instruction in Science, Technology, Engineering, and
Mathematics: Report of a Workshop" Committee on Undergraduate STEM
Instruction," National Research Council, National Academy Press;
online at <http://www.nap.edu/catalog/10711.html>.
Physicists/astronomers attending the workshop were Paula Herron,
Priscilla Laws, John Lehman, Ramon Lopez, Richard McCray, Lillian
McDermott, Carl Wieman, Jack Wilson, and Mike Zeilik.
Powell, K. 2003. "Spare me the lecture," Nature 425, 18 September
2003, pp. 234-236; online as a 272 kB pdf at
<http://www.nature.com./cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v425/n6955/index.html>,
scroll down to "News Feature": "US research universities, with their
enormous classes, have a poor reputation for teaching science.
Experts agree that a shake-up is needed, but which strategies work
best? Kendall Powell goes back to school."
Stokstad, E. 2001. "Reintroducing the Intro Course." Science 293:
1608-1610, 31 August 2001: online for free (entire article to
"Science" subscribers, abstract to guests) at
<http://www.sciencemag.org/search.dtl>, search for Volume 293, First
Page 1608. The summary reads: "Physicists are out in front in
measuring how well students learn the basics, as science educators
incorporate hands-on activities in hopes of making the introductory
course a beginning rather than a finale. Figuring out what works is
vitally important to the country, say U.S. educators. Each year,
hundreds of thousands of U.S. students get their only exposure to
science in an intro class--and most leave without understanding how
science works or with any desire to take further courses."