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Re: [Phys-l] Students' READING abilities




Edmiston quotes his students:

(1) Oh, I don't read the lab handouts because I can never understand
them. I just ask someone else in the class what we're supposed to do.

(2) I did read the handout, and it didn't make any sense to me, so I
just used my own judgment about what we were supposed to do. [Which
might not be so bad if the student took the time to develop some good
judgement about the goal of the experiment and how one might reach that
goal.]


Then he concludes:

Conclusions:

Many students don't read. Many students can't read critically and
understand what is written. Students don't listen. Students would
rather copy someone else in the class. I have office hours, but
students won't come to office hours to ask questions.

_________________________

Nothing can be done if a student insists on not reading.

But, in any class, there will always be a number of students who will read a textbook (or other document), if the fear of reading is taken away from them.

Going back to my graduate studies days in engineering school in the late sixties, I remember that my fear of reading a mathematics text was triggered whenever I came across the expression "iff" (if and only if). That was the signal for my brain to shut down.

Since I went into teaching, that lesson remained with me, and I have sympathized to some extent with students who find the textbooks terrifying. I have tried to mitigate some of this fear by insisting on students bringing their books to all classes and working, as much as possible, with the book. My theory, unsupported by any research though, is that if the ground is familiar, the reasonably responsible student will tread on it more readily.

Fouad I. Ajami
Physics Department
Champlain College
900 Riverside Drive,
St Lambert, QC, Canada, J4P 3P2
Tel: 450-672-7360-272
Fax: 450-672-9299