1. "Student learning does not occur solely in a class or a set of
classes. It occurs in residence halls, student activities, and
off-campus experiences. It results from previous experiences and
learning."
That any substantive increase in understanding of Newtonian mechanics
occurs "in residence halls, student activities, and off-campus
experiences" is contradicted by the very low average normalized gains
<g> of about 0.2 for students subjected to traditional introductory
physics classes. I suspect that substantive learning in casual non-class
activities is also rare for other subjects that make higher-order
cognitive demands.
As for learning that results from "previous experiences and learning,"
that is precisely what the pretest is meant to determine.
__________________________
I for one, obtained a substantive increase in understanding from these
"out of class experience". And I have witnessed such increases in many
of my peers as well as some students. So I wouldn't be dismissive of
experiences.
I suspect that the low gains quoted above may have a variety of
explanations as related to the above comment. Taken at face value,
which it probably shouldn't be, it may be an indicator that a large
percentage of students are not availing themselves to such "out of class
experiences".
________________________
Joel Rauber
Department of Physics - SDSU