[Phys-L] Re: Interactive Engagement Has Many Forms
From: rrhake at EARTHLINK.NET (Richard Hake)
Date: Mon Aug 1 14:53:28 2005
To avoid littering the lists with a needless litany of vitriolic
complaints, if you object to references, long posts, or cross-posting
as a way to tunnel through intra-disciplinary barriers, please take a
few milliseconds to hit "DELETE" now.
In his post of 29 Jul 2005 titled "Re: Interactive Engagement Has
Many Forms," John Belcher wrote:
"We all talk a lot in this forum about physics faculty resistance to change,
but my experience is that that is not the primary issue. Most physics
faculty will admit that we don't do a good job in introductory courses based
on them seeing how little gets across, so they are willing to look at
alternatives. Students on the other hand are convinced that 'telling' is
the best pedagogy, much more so than faculty are. My experience is that
students are much more conservative than faculty (and I have the scars to
prove it!)"
Faculty resistance to change may not be the primary current barrier
to reform of education at MIT, but IMHO its importance should not
should not overlooked by physics education researchers (PER's) or
those who attempt to implement reform methods of education.
That it was important at Cambridge (England) at the turn of the 20th
Century was immortalized by Cornford (1908). According to a note I
received from Sanjoy Mahajan, who has been at Cambridge for several
years, faculty attitudes haven't changed much at Cambridge since
1908.
That faculty resistance to change HAS been important at MIT is
indicated by "The rise and fall of PSI physics at MIT" [Friedman et
al. (1976), see especially Sec. IIIB "The mystique of physics
teaching"] and the Cornfordian "Tactics for Change" [Halfman et al.
(1977) - see signature quote].
That resistance to change was paramount in the early 16th century was
chronicled by Machiavelli (1513) in his advice to the "The Prince."
Lesson #8 of the generally ignored "Lessons from the physics
education reform effort" [Hake (2002a)] is (see that article for the
references):
"L8. COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY FACULTY TEND TO OVERESTIMATE THE
EFFECTIVENESS OF THEIR OWN INSTRUCTIONAL EFFORTS AND THUS TEND TO SEE
LITTLE NEED FOR EDUCATIONAL REFORM. As examples of this tendency see
Geilker (1997) [countered by Hilborn (1998)]; Griffiths (1997)
[countered by Hestenes (1998)]; Goldman (1998); Mottman (1999a,b)
[countered by Kolitch (1999), Steinberg (1999), and Hilborn (1999)];
and Carr (2000)."
More recently, among faculty upholding traditional teaching are
Lamoreaux (2001) countered by Stith et al. 2002, Ehrlich (2002)
countered by Hake (2002b), and Roos (2002)].
Roos (2002), ignoring the arguments of Hestenes (1998), writes (my
CAPS): "As you read through Griffiths' (1998) article, it becomes
immediately apparent that he is not an advocate of the need to reform
physics teaching, and indeed still rather likes the traditional
lecture. HE MAKES A VERY CONVINCING, AND INTELLECTUALLY SOUND CASE
FOR THE TRADITIONAL METHODS."
Lesson #9 of "Lessons from the physics education reform effort"
indicates a possible way to overcome faculty inertia [bracketed by
lines "HHHHHH. . . ."; see the article for the references; this
lesson was totally ignored by the NRC's McCray et al (2003)]:
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
L9. SUCH COMPLACENCY CAN SOMETIMES BE COUNTERED BY THE ADMINISTRATION
OF HIGH-QUALITY STANDARDIZED TESTS OF UNDERSTANDING AND BY "VIDEO
SNOOPING."
a. Harvard's Eric Mazur (1997) was very satisfied with his
introductory-course teaching - he received very positive student
evaluations and his students did reasonably well on "difficult" exam
problems. Thus it came as a shock when his students fared hardly
better on the "simple" FCI than on their "difficult" midterm exam. As
a result, Mazur developed and implemented his interactive- engagement
"Peer Instruction" method as a replacement for his
previous traditional passive-student lectures. This change resulted
in much higher <g>'s on the FCI as shown by comparison of the red and
green triangular points with average pretest scores in the vicinity
of 70% in Fig. 1.
b. Like Mazur, most Harvard faculty members are proud of their
undergraduate science courses. However, the videotape "Private
Universe" (Schneps & Sadler 1985) shows Harvard graduating seniors
being asked "What causes the seasons?" Most of them confidently
explain that the seasons are caused by yearly changes in the distance
between the Sun and the Earth! Similarly most MIT faculty regard
their courses as very effective preparation for the difficult
engineering problems that will confront their elite graduates in
professional life. However the videotape "Simple Minds: (Shapiro et
al. 1997) shows MIT graduating seniors having great trouble getting a
flashlight bulb to light, given one bulb, one battery, and one piece
of wire.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"Difficulties of Change: . . . 9. The PRIMA FACIE AFFRONT: Whereas I
have spent a significant fraction of my professional life perfecting
my lectures and otherwise investing conscientiously in the status
quo, therefore to suggest an alternative is, by definition, to attack
me."
Halfman et al. (1977).
Ehrlich, R. 2002. "How do we know if we're doing a good job in
physics teaching?" Am. J. Phys. 70(1): 24-29.
FLAG. 2005. "Field-tested Learning Assessment Guide; online at
<http://www.flaguide.org/>: ". . . offers broadly applicable,
self-contained modular classroom assessment techniques (CAT's) and
discipline-specific tools for STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering,
and Mathematics] instructors interested in new approaches to
evaluating student learning, attitudes and performance. Each has been
developed, tested, and refined in real colleges and universities
classrooms." Assessment tools for physics and astronomy (and other
disciplines) are at <http://www.flaguide.org/tools/tools.php>.
Friedman, C.P.. S. Hirschi, M. Parlett, E.F. Taylor. 1976. "The rise
and fall of PSI physics at MIT," Am. J. Phys. 44 (34): 204-211.
Hake, R.R. 2002a. "Lessons from the physics education reform effort,"
Ecology and Society 5(2): 28; online at
<http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol5/iss2/art28/>. Ecology and Society
(formerly Conservation Ecology) is a free online "peer-reviewed
journal of integrative science and fundamental policy research" with
about 11,000 subscribers in about 108 countries. See also Hake (2003).
Halfman, R., M.L.A. MacVicar, W.T. Martin, E.F. Taylor, & J.R.
Zacharias. 1977. "Tactics for Change." MIT Occasional Paper No. 11.
We hope that this will soon be placed on the web.
Lamoreaux, S.K. 2001. "Impressions of physics education," Am. J.
Phys. 69(6): 633.
Machiavelli, N. 1513. "The Prince" Now available as an Oxford World's
Classic [Machiavelli et al. (2005]).
Machiavelli, N., P.E. Bondanella (Translator), & M. Viroli
(Introduction). 2005. Oxford University Press.
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 (believe it or not) the
FLAG-waving Mike Zeilik.