Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: [Phys-L] US schools



At 1:22 PM -0600 7/16/12, Larry Smith wrote:

John Hattie's research says class size matters (particularly in lower grades), but not as much as most people think.

I am not familiar with Hattie's research, but I can attest from personal experience at the middle and high school level, that class size is absolutely critical for laboratory courses, where the teacher's attention must be simultaneously concentrated on individual problems and distributed among the entire class to maintain a semblance of order. A laboratory class size greater than about 18 is marginal at best if the teacher is unassisted, but can be adequately handled if the teacher has an assistant. Much larger than that and the problems quickly become unmanageable.

For classes where active student involvement is necessary too small a class can inhibit good student participation (not enough people to sustain an active conversation) and too large a class can intimidate students who might speak up in a smaller group. I have found that groups of 12-20 are usually best, although both larger and smaller groups work if the subject is directly relevant and the students are highly motivated and interested. But in all cases it is necessary for the teacher to avoid letting one or two students dominate the conversation.

There is some research that claims that class size is irrelevant, but I am highly skeptical of that. From whit I've seen, the basic setting in those studies has been classrooms where "direct instruction" is the norm and class participation is either not encouraged or actively discouraged.

If all the teacher does is lecture, then class size is totally irrelevant. I have taken classes of this nature where the class has 800-1000 students. The only issue there is to get a seat where one can see the blackboard (if it is being used), and can hear the lecturer.

I have used PowerPoint (or one of its equivalents) on occasion, and also been in classes where the presentations were all PowerPoint. I haven't found the process to be of much value from either side of the podium.

Hugh
--
Hugh Haskell
mailto:hugh@ieer.org
mailto:haskellh@verizon.net

I have been wondering for a long time why some of our own defense officials do not
put more emphasis on finding a good substitute for oil and worry less about where
more oil is to come from. Our people are ingenious. New discoveries are all around
us, and when we have to make them, we nearly always do.

Eleanor Roosevelt
February 13, 1948