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Mightn't it be a good idea to start talking to them in language they
understand and finding out how effective that approach is?
Regards,
Jack
If a student wants to understand, and is therefore actually trying to
understand, and therefore is actually investing some time in the
subject...
then understanding is going to happen one way or another. It might first
hit them from studying the text; it might first make sense during the
lab;
it might first come from the lecture; it might first come from working on
a
problem set; it might first require a visit to my office. The only times
I
have been unsuccessful with students who are actually trying have been
when
the students have actual learning disabilities or have huge holes in
their
backgrounds that I can't fix in the allotted time.
I don't know what percentage to use, but I would guess that over 90% of
my
students who aren't getting it are in that situation because they aren't
investing any time in it. And they aren't investing any time because
they
don't really want to know. And they don't want to know because they see
this course as an artificial hurdle. That is, it's something someone
said
they have to take, but they don't see any reason they should have to take
it
because "they are never going to use any of this stuff in their chosen
profession."
Lacking the desire to understand the material, I don't think there is any
language that will be effective.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry and Physics
Bluffton University
1 University Drive
Bluffton, OH 45817
419.358.3270
edmiston@bluffton.edu
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