Re: inquiry based courses

[James Riley <jriley@lib.drury.edu>]

Two of us at Drury are using workshop physics and to a lesser degree have
run into some of the same problems.

I think it would be a great benefit
to discuss problems specifically associated with workshop-type classes
with others who are also using the techniques.  There is a forum set up at
Dickenson College by Priscilla Laws accessible via the web for such
discussion but although it has been in existance for at least six months
there have been only three messages posted to it.  I am not sure why it is
not used more.  It may not be widely enough known and some publicity might
help but I think that part of the problem may be that the format of a WWW
site is just not conducive to rapid exchange of ideas.

I think a listserve would be much more productive.  The
problem with a web site is that it is very cumbersome compared to e-mail.
With a web site one does not know in advance if there are any new
messages.   One must first access the web, find the specific site, go
through the menus, and finally find a listing of messages.  Unless this is
done every day one's answers to inquiries are liable to be very outdated.
And since weeks may go by without a question being posted it becomes very
tedious.

Contrast this with a listserve in which one can wait passively
until a question is posted at which time it will be immediately
distributed to members of the list. Or if one has a question one can post
it with confidence that interested individuals will know it is there.

I have posed the possibility of such a list once before and the web site
at Dickenson was set up in response.  (I am writing this at home and do
not have the address of the site here.  I will post it tomorrow if no one
beats me to it.)  Perhaps I should give the web site a few more months to
catch on but if it does not then I think we should reconsider a listserv.

Jim Riley, Department of Physics
Drury College, Springfield MO 65802
e-mail:  jriley@lib.drury.edu
(417) 873-7233

On Thu, 20 Jun 1996 cwentworth@doane.edu wrote:

> Greetings Phys-l readers,
>
>
> Over the past two years I have shifted my introductory physics course to a
> "Workshop Physics" type format and my physical science for non-majors course
> to a very inquiry based format using primarily the AAPT model course materials
> "Powerful Ideas In Physical Science".  These shifts have produced a more
> "student-centered" class environment.
> ..........text cut
> The problem which concerns me is that the courses seem to have become more
> unpopular and my own teacher evaluation scores have plummeted as I have
> tried to make the courses "student centered".
>
> ............text cut.....
> Do other college teachers who use inquiry based approaches, such as in the
> AAPT model course, find similar problems?  Maybe I haven't developed the
> skill yet for conducting this course...
>
>
> Thanks for listening.
>
> Chris Wentworth
>
> Department of Physics
> Doane College
> Crete, NE 68333-2496
> 402-826-8257 (O)
> 402-826-8199 (FAX)
> cwentworth@doane.edu (Internet)