I'm short on solutions--seeing much the same thing here with chemistry
majors. I can suggest reasons. Try and query your students as to how much
time they are spending; a) on their cell phones b) doing email and instant
messaging c) on the internet for non-academic purposes d) watching TV and
video e) 'studying' with music blaring in their ears. Now add that time
to working (the making money type), sleeping, eating, exercising, and just
plain loafing. Oh, and maybe even add in the time spent on other classes.
;-) I think you'll start to see the problem.
Rick (maybe the solution IS what I tend to dislike about much of the 'new
pedagogy'--that is, get them to do everything you feel is essential IN THE
CLASSROOM--with the obvious loss of coverage.)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Monce, Michael N." <mnmon@conncoll.edu>
I'm teaching E&M to a class of 8 majors. I'm using Griffiths as I've done
for over many years, and actually think I'm doing a better job in teaching
the course than ever (practice makes perfect). I think the "disease" that
seems to be infecting the general student population has made its way into
our majors. The students are not engaging the material; i.e. they are not
putting in the work to stay up with the course and often wait until the last
night to start the problem assignment. They don't seem to have a grasp of
even basic concepts from the intro. course. I gave a pop quiz to confirm my
suspicions which consisted of intro course level problems and except for 2
students, the other 6 failed. I've talked to them about keeping up, how
this is a challenging course for majors, etc. etc. etc. The worst of it is
for the "6" their problem sets are near perfect and closely resemble
Griffiths' solution manual, yet when I ask them basic question in class,
none can come up with the answers. I've told them that I can't stop them
from using such a manual, but it will do them no good on the exams, and will
probably contribute to their failure if they are not truly trying to work on
the material. I've never expected this from junior level physics majors.
GE students in an intro course, yes, but not here. I've taught this course
probably 15 times and this is the first instance that I've seen such a lack
of effort on the part of the students. Oh, by the way, the 2 who seem to be
keeping up are both foreign students, the "6" are American.