Teaching quality thread

[Beichner@NCSU.edu (Bob Beichner)]

> > At the beginning of the
> > hour he would start writing on the blackboard and lecturing to the
> > blackboard (inaudibly).  He would stop at the end of the hour.
> > 	We students would just sit and copy his notes.
> > 	Why was it one of the best courses?  Because every night I
> > had to sit down with the notes and struggle until I understood what the guy
> > was saying (or, rather, writing).
> > 	My point?  Learning is a student responsibility.  Or, to quote
> > Feynman, "What I cannot create I do not understand."  The student's
> > responsibility is to learn to create, and there is very little that the
> > teacher can do to facilitate that learning.
> > 			Regards,
> > 					Jack
> Good point, Jack. I have often thought that the courses where I had to
> struggle to understand the material because of little or poor discourse by
> the instructor were those where I retained the most. Conversely, my
> statistical mechanics course was so well taught that at the end of the
> period I felt as tho' I understood every concept. Consequently, I didn't
> struggle afterward with the material and have retained hardly anything.


This sounds like something out of "Alice in Wonderland!" What you are saying
is that the best teachers are the worst teachers. The less the student
understands from class the better they end up learning the material because
they have to learn it on their own.

While I'll be the first to admit that students have to learn the material
themselves in order for it to "stick," I don't think the logical extension
of this idea is to be satisfied with foggy explanations that force students
to do everything themselves. Shouldn't we aim for providing insights and
guidance that minimize the time it takes for students to learn the concepts
on their own? It's sort of like helping a child learn to ride a
bike...although the new rider is ultimately the one who has to acquire the
balance and coordination, a bit of helpful "support" in the form of Mom or
Dad's stabilizing hand on the back of the bike seat certainly makes the
learning process go faster.

Bob