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Re: Jackson on Jackson



At 11:03 AM 11/8/96 CST, Joel Rauber wrote:

I haven't read the reference, so my comment is based on speculation on my
part. Personally, I've never seen a graduate level course that wasn't a
"group learning-based" situation. Us grad students would form group learning
situations in order to learn better and in some cases survive. Also, as a
student, I would feel cheated if valuable lecture time were taken up by
group inquiry situations (and have experienced this feeling cheated aspect),
I can do that out of class, in class I'd like to see the erudition of an
expert faculty member expound upon the subject matter; that's why I'm paying
him/her the tuition dollar.

The problem with learning in groups is that the instructor has to
ASSUME that the students' schedules overlap sufficiently for them to work
out the probles together outside of class. I have seen examples in both
undergraduate and graduate instruction where this was not possible.

The only way for groups to be effective in instruction is for there
to be specific, scheduled times for them to meet. Some kind instructor or
resource person should be there, especially for undergraduates, but the
expert faculty member need not be. Without some kind of supervisor or
scheduled time, one of two things can go terribly wrong.

One...a student (say...and undergraduate) who struggles a little
more than others put into a group of high-achievers might find him/herself
excluded deliberately because of a lack of patience.
Two...a group of graduate students (almost) all on fellowship might
choose to work on group problems during the time that their one
non-fellowship member is off teaching classes so their sleep schedules
aren't impacted.

Students can be easily intimidated, and reluctant to speak to
instructors about difficulties with their peers. Only when groups are well
organized and supervised can such difficulties be reliably identified and
prevented or remedied.

Chris

-- Chris Clayton
(first year physical science teacher)
Mt. Zion Senior High School
305 S Henderson
Mt. Zion, IL 62549

email: misterc@uiuc.edu
(currently forwarding to: clayton@webmart.net)
MSN Chemistry Forum Assistant
ChrisC_Asst@msn.com

"Life is a vector quantity."