Some subscribers to Phys-L might be interested in a discussion-list
post "Physics Demonstrations: *Both* Education and Entertainment"
[Hake (2011)].
The abstract reads:
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ABSTRACT: PhysLrnR's Noah Podolefsky (2011) wrote (paraphrasing):
"Perhaps the reason we don't have evidence that demos promote
interest is that nobody has bothered to look for it because the
research agenda has been mostly focused on quantifiable measures of
content learning."
But Coleman, Holcomb, & Rigden (1998) *did* look for it and reported
that a survey at Virginia Tech confirmed students' approval of
demonstrations "clearly and unambiguously," and that many "students
commented in detail on the educational value of the demonstrations."
What seems to have eluded the physics education community is that
*both* students' enjoyment and learning can be drastically increased
by transforming lecture demonstrations into "Socratic Dialogue
Inducing (SDI) Labs" <http://bit.ly/9tSTdB> in which the students
themselves do the demos and discuss the physics behind the demos
among themselves, with Socratic guidance as needed.
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"I am deeply convinced that a statistically significant improvement
would occur if more of us learned to listen to our students . . . By
listening to what they say in answer to carefully phrased, leading
questions, we can begin to understand what does and does not happen
in their minds, anticipate the hurdles they encounter, and provide
the kind of help needed to master a concept or line of reasoning
without simply 'telling them the answer'.. . . .Nothing is more
ineffectually arrogant than the widely found teacher attitude that
'all you have to do is say it my way, and no one within hearing can
fail to understand it.'. . . . Were more of us willing to relearn our
physics by the dialogue and listening process I have described, we
would see a discontinuous upward shift in the quality of physics
teaching. I am satisfied that this is fully within the competence of
our colleagues; the question is one of humility and desire."
- Arnold Arons (1974)
REFERENCES [URL's shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on 31 July 2011.]
Arons, A.B. 1974. "Toward wider public understanding of science:
Addendum," Am. J. Phys. 42(2): 157-158; online to subscribers at
<http://ajp.aapt.org/resource/1/ajpias/v42/i2>.
Hake, R.R. 2011. "Physics Demonstrations: *Both* Education and Entertainment,"
Online on the OPEN AERA-L archives at <http://bit.ly/rtrMbp>. Post of
31 Jul 2011 14:16:04-0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. 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/ooPc5T> with a provision for comments.