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Re: [Phys-l] learning, judgment, self-assessment, etc.



Hi all-
My better classes have done som e of this by having gtoups that meet outside of class for their own critical discussions = peer learning.
We certainly did this in grad school at MIT.
````` Regards,
Jack

"Trust me. I have a lot of experience at this."
General Custer's unremembered message to his men,
just before leading them into the Little Big Horn Valley




On Sun, 22 May 2011, John Denker wrote:

On 05/22/2011 10:03 AM, William Robertson wrote:
So the problem is how to get quality reflection from a large group.

Good question.

I conjecture that a little peer instruction might help with this.
Specifically, at the end of a little project, divide the class
into pairs or maybe threesomes, and have them debrief each other
according to the classic formula:
"Replay the exercise. Tell what you did and what you saw. Tell
what went right. Tell what you wish you had done differently."

As with all peer instruction, there is some risk that it will turn
into blind leading the blind, but the teacher can wander around and
kibitz some of the debriefings to prevent the worst abuses. By
the time they've done it N times they will get the hang of it.

I reckon this will not solve all the world's problems, but it might
be a step in the right direction. I'm willing to settle for half
a loaf, or even 1/10th of a loaf. That's because the objective is
so important, and so woefully underemphasized heretofore.

Of course motivation is an indispensable ingredient. Those who
weren't motivated to do the original exercise won't be motivated
to participate in the debriefing. Peer instruction might help
with some of this, around the edges, in the sense that peer
pressure will provide motivation in some cases where (say) grade
pressure doesn't suffice.

I have no idea how well this will work, and other and/or better
ideas might come along, but I reckon the experiment is worth doing.

On the basis of theory and gut feeling in the absence of actual
data, I don't want to accept the notion that there is "little or
no time for reflection". I refuse to surrender. My theory is
that if you can get students to grok the idea that classwork will
only teach them a tiny percentage of what they need to know, and
they need to learn the rest on their own, starting now and continuing
forever ... then the teaching becomes orders of magnitude more
effective. Therefore no matter how much time was spent getting
that point across, it was time very well spent.

The goals are:
-- Love of learning.
-- Knowing /how/ to learn.
-- Self-awareness.
-- Judgment.
Teaching this is reeeeally hard. It's hard enough in a one-on-one
setting, and even harder in a classroom setting ... but I reckon it
is the only game worth playing.
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