In a post titled "Re: Human Error," Jack Uretsky (2005a) replied to
Mike Edmiston's (2005) complaint about "students listing 'human
error' as one of the possibilities for why their lab results are not
as good as hoped for?":
"Perhaps your labs are not teaching what you think they are teaching.
That is why both Hake and I went to totally different lab formats."
K. Fincher (2005) then responded:
"[Jack Uretsky's] statement is intriguing and, I think, true in many
cases. Could [Uretsky] and/or Hake enlighten me about [their] lab
formats?"
Uretsky (2005b) replied:
"Hake wrote a mechanics sequence which I modified for use in
Community Colleges and High Schools. Then I wrote an E&M sequence in
what I believe is the same style. Labs 1 & 2 of the E&M sequence, as
well as the instructions (which are crucial to the understanding of
the labs) are on my web site at
<http://www.hep.anl.gov/jlu/index.html."; . .[along with a splendid
photo of Jack as as the workman in Chekhov's "The Seagull," Theatre
of Western Springs, November '99.]
Jack modestly omits the fact that he also published a paper "Using
'Dialogue' Labs in a Community College Physics Course," in "The
Physics Teacher" [Uretsky (1993)].
For a slight elaboration on Jack's "Hake wrote a mechanics sequence,"
see e.g., Hake (1992, 1998, 2002a,b,c,d; 2004a,b,c,d,e,f,g).
Unfortunately, the SOCRATIC Method has been grossly misunderstood by
some [e.g., Morse (1994), Swartz (1994), Uretsky (2002), Redish
(2003)] as equivalent to the PLATONIC method described in Plato's
Meno.
As indicated in Hake (2004d): "This pedagogical misconception is
probably a factor in the nearly complete neglect of effective
Socratic pedagogy by Physics Education Researchers [e.g., Hilborn et
al. (2003), Redish (2003), McCray et al. (2003), and Mestre (2003)].
"If Confucius can serve as the Patron Saint of Chinese education, let
me propose Socrates as his equivalent in a Western educational
context - a Socrates who is never content with the initial
superficial response, but is always probing for finer distinctions,
clearer examples, a more profound form of knowing. Our concept of
knowledge has changed since classical times, but Socrates has
provided us with a timeless educational goal - ever deeper
understanding."
Howard Gardner, "The Academic Community Must Not Shun the Debate Over How
to Set National Educational Goals," "The Chronicle of Higher Education," 8
Nov. 1989
Hake, R.R. 2004a. "SDI Labs," at the Harvard Galileo site
<http://galileo.harvard.edu/>. The Galileo site is a leading resource
for online teaching materials. Under "Teaching Materials" click on
"Socratic Dialogue Inducing Labs" to bring up sections on: "What is
SDI?", "Who Can Use SDI?", "More About SDI", "What Are the
Requirements?" [the #4 phrase "available to be downloaded" link has
rotted - it should be <http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>,
"Benefits," and "Resources for SDI." In addition, Teacher's Guides
for SDI Labs #0.2 "Introduction to Kinematics" and #3 "Circular
Motion and Frictional Forces" are at <http://galileo.harvard.edu/> /
"Socratic Dialogue Inducing Labs" /"Resources for SDI" (under "What
are the requirements" / "Teacher'sGuides", where "/" means "click on."
Hake, R.R. 2004d. "Re: Student resistance to changes in professional
education practice," online at
<http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0410&L=pod&P=R1366>. Post of
1 Oct 2004 12:30:24-0700 to AERA-I, AERA-J, AP-Physics, ASSESS, DrEd,
EvalTalk, PBL, Phys-L, PhysLrnR, POD, and STLHE-L. See the last two
sentences.
Hake, R.R. 2004e. "Re: Good labs for circular motion/centripetal
acceleration," online at
<http://lists.nau.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0411&L=phys-l&O=A&P=4620>.
Post of 4 Nov 2004 (2039 is in error!) (20 17:12:45-0800 to
AP-Physics, Phys-L, PhysLrnR, and Physhare.
Hake, R.R. 2004g. "Re: Socratic Method Misunderstood," PhysLrnR post
of 7 Nov 2004 15:49:04 -0800; online at
<http://listserv.boisestate.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0411&L=physlrnr&P=R887&I=-3&X=285F07495CFE50C314&Y=rrhake@earthlink.net>.
The encyclopedic URL indicates that PhysLrnR is one of the few
discussion lists that denies archive access to non-subscribers.
However, it takes only a few minutes to subscribe by following the
simple directions at
<http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/physlrnr.html> / "Join or
leave the list (or change settings)" where "/" means "click on." If
you're busy, then subscribe using the "NOMAIL" option under
"Miscellaneous." Then, as a subscriber, you may access the archives
and/or post messages at any time, while receiving NO MAIL from the
list!
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>.
Mestre, J. 2003. Appendix I. "Physics Education Resources" pp. 56-64
of Hilborn et al. (2003). Mestre also ignores the ASU Modeling
Program <http://modeling.asu.edu/R&E/Research.html>.
Morse, R.A. 1994. "The Classic Method of Mrs. Socrates," Phys. Teach.
32: 276-277.
Redish, E.F. 2003 "Teaching Physics With the Physics Suite" (TPWPS),
John Wiley, page 146, footnote #5; TPWPS is online at
<http://www.physics.umd.edu/perg/>, scroll to the bottom of the page.
Swartz, C. 1994. "The Classic Socratic Method," Phys. Teach. 32(3),
138-141 (1994).