Some subscribers to Phys-L might be interested in
a discussion-list post "Re: Lecture Isn't
Effective: More Evidence #2" [Hake (2011)].
The abstract reads:
*************************************************
ABSTRACT: In reply to my post "Re: Lecture Isn't
Effective: More Evidence" at
<http://bit.ly/r80W5i>, Ed Laughbaum of the
MathEdCC list wrote at <http://bit.ly/r8StCV>:
"My guess is that of the nearly 6 billion people
on earth who have been (are being) educated,
learned through lecture. . . . . Is lecture a
common practice in China? In India? In Thailand?
In Brazil? Canada, etc.? My guess is yes. "
To which Alain Schremmer replied "Yes, most
people in the world learn from lectures but this
is only because, in most of the world, there just
are no textbooks: the teacher writes the book on
the board and the students copy what's on the
board in their notebook."
A MUST-READ all-time classic in this regard is
the hilarious "The Lecture System in Teaching
Science" [Morrison (1986)] online at
<http://entropysite.oxy.edu/morrison.html>.
Laughbaum went on to point out that the
effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of lectures is
related to the neurobiology of human memory as
discussed by Gerald M. Edelman
<http://bit.ly/n1LpW9>, Terry McDermott
<http://bit.ly/qNPAQP>, and Richard Restak
<http://bit.ly/pfWYNg>.
*************************************************
"Like the entomologist in search of brightly
colored butterflies, my attention hunted, in the
garden of gray matter, cells with delicate and
elegant forms, the mysterious butterflies of the
soul."
-Santiago Ramón y Cajal
<http://bit.ly/pTBxSA>, quoted on p. 12 of
Edelman (2006)
REFERENCES [URL's shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on 11 July 2011.]
Edelman, G.M. 2006. "Second nature: Brain science
and Human Knowledge". Yale University Press.
Publisher's information at
<http://bit.ly/n1LpW9>. Amazon.com information at
<http://amzn.to/q5WOvl>.
Hake, R.R. 2011. "Re: Lecture Isn't Effective:
More Evidence #2," online on the OPEN! AERA-L
archives at <http://bit.ly/mXiXoh>. The abstract
and link to the complete post are being
transmitted to various discussion lists and are
also on my blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at
<http://bit.ly/rr2BQU> with a provision for
comments.