[Phys-l] Do Interactive Engagement Methods Yield Long-lived Conceptual Understanding?

[Richard Hake <rrhake@earthlink.net>]

In response to  "Can Distance and Classroom Learning Be Increased?" 
[Hake (2008)],  Gary Lane Bertrand, in his Chemed-L post of 12 Jan 
2008 16:54:39-0600 wrote:

 "There is plenty of anecdotal evidence, and I'm sure there have been 
formal studies as well, that students retain little of what they have 
'learned' from one semester to the next with traditional methods and 
exams.  Have there been any studies on retention of concepts over an 
extended period with concept tests?"

The answer is "Yes, there have been a few."

In "Lessons from the physics education reform effort" [Hake (2002)] I wrote:

". . . there is some preliminary evidence that learning in 
Interactive Engagement (IE) physics courses is substantially retained 
1 to 3 years after the courses have ended [Chabay (1997), Francis et 
al. (1998),  and Bernhard (2001)]. I see no reason to doubt that 
enhanced understanding and retention would result from greater use of 
IE methods in other science, and even non-science, areas, but 
substantive research on this issue is sorely needed."

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>


REFERENCES
Chabay, R.W. 1997. "Qualitative understanding and retention," AAPT 
Announcer 27(2): 96.

Francis, G.E., J.P. Adams, and E.J. Noonan. 1998. "Do they stay 
fixed?" Physics Teacher 36(8):488-491, online to subscribers at 
<http://scitation.aip.org/dbt/dbt.jsp?KEY=PHTEAH&Volume=36&Issue=8>.

Bernhard, J.  2000. "Does active engagement curricula give long-lived 
conceptual understanding?" Paper accepted for publication in the 
proceedings of GIREP2000 "Physics Teacher Education Beyond 2000" in 
Barcelona 27 August - 1 September 2000; online at 
<http://staffwww.itn.liu.se/~jonbe/fou/didaktik/papers/girep2000_active.pdf>

Hake, R.R. 2002. "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. For an update see Hake (2007).

Hake, R.R. 2007. "Six Lessons From the Physics Education Reform 
Effort," Latin American Journal of Physics Education 1(1), September; 
online at <http://journal.lapen.org.mx/sep07/HAKE%20Final.pdf> (124 
kB).

Hake, R.R. 2008. "Can Distance and Classroom Learning Be Increased?" 
IJ-SoTL 2(1): January; online at 
<http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl/v2n1/essays_about_sotl/hake/index.htm>. 
The "International Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning" 
(IJ-SoTL)  <http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl/>  is an open, 
peer-reviewed, international electronic journal containing articles, 
essays, and discussions about the scholarship of teaching and 
learning (SoTL) and its applications in higher/tertiary education 
today.