In response to my post "Academically Adrift?" an ETD-L subscriber
wrote to me privately (slightly edited):
". . . .do you have access to any papers that address the amount (or
relevance) of TIME that is devoted to topics in technical
(physics/engineering/math) education? My take on this is that without
sufficient 'soak time', students are stuck with just memorizing facts
and applying them to the basic problems at hand. . . . . I also
fear that those facts are quickly forgotten. I am not sure that is
really 'learning'. . . . . Please share any insight you may have
regarding research that addresses this soak time aspect of technical
courses."
Regarding the insufficient "soak-time" of most science, technology,
engineering, and math (STEM) education see the classic:
1. article by Phillip Morrison (1964) "Less My Be More," and
2. comment by Arnold Arons (1986): "The Standard Relativistic Model
Of Instruction [is] based on the premise that, if one starts with an
E - N - O - R -M - O - U - S breadth of subject matter but passes it
by the student at sufficiently high velocity, the Lorentz contraction
will shorten it to the point at which it drops into the *hole* which
is the student mind."
For a cartoon rendition of "2" suitable for framing see page 9 of
"What Can We Learn from the Physics Education Reform Effort?"[Hake
(2000)].
REFERENCES [All URL's accessed on 30 Jan 2011; some shortened by
<http://bit.ly/> and]
Arons, A.B. 1986. "Conceptual Difficulties in Science," in
"Proceedings of the Chicago Conferences on Liberal Education, No. 1,
" edited by M.R. Rice (Univ. of Chicago), p. 23-32. See also Arons
(1997) and Hake (2004).
Arons, A.B. 1997. "Teaching Introductory Physics." Wiley. Amazon.com
information at <http://amzn.to/bBPfop>. Note the searchable "Look
Inside" feature.
Hake, R.R. 2000. "What Can We Learn from the Physics Education Reform
Effort?" ASME Mechanical Engineering Education Conference: "Drivers
and Strategies of Major Program Change," Fort Lauderdale, Florida,
March 26-29, online as a 436 kB pdf at <http://bit.ly/gDrN2T>. This
talk was a precursor to Hake (2002, 2007).
Hake, R.R. 2002. "Lessons from the physics education reform effort,"
Ecology and Society 5(2): 28; online at <http://bit.ly/aL87VT>.
Hake, R.R. 2004. "The Arons Advocated Method," submitted to the
"American Journal of Physics" on 24 April 2004; online as a 144 kB
pdf at <http://bit.ly/boeQQt>. With regard to "soak time" see
especially feature #8 of the "Arons Advocated Method": REDUCTION OF
VOLUME AND PACE OF STANDARD INTRODUCTORY COURSES.
Hake, R.R. 2007. "Six Lessons From the Physics Education Reform
Effort," Latin American Journal of Physics, online as a 124 kB pdf at
<http://bit.ly/bjvDOb>.
Hake, R.R. 2011. "Academically Adrift?" online on the OPEN! AERA-L
archives at <http://bit.ly/gwJD0W>. Post of 29 Jan 2011 10:00:09-0800
to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post
are being transmitted to various discussion lists are also online on
my blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/hVYzHI> with a provision
for comments.