Re: Teaching quality thread

[George Spagna <gspagna@rmc.edu>]

At 08:17 AM 12/13/96 -0500, Bob Beichner wrote:

> 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.

I agree, with a follow-up question:  Is there not a different mode of
"teaching" appropriate at the intro level vs what's appropriate for
upper-division and graduate courses?  In the introductory course we are
trying to lead students into a new discipline, a new way of examining and
questioning the world they observe.  Of course we have to guide their
inquiry so that they can come to reason and understand "like a physicist".
Beyond the intro course, we are trying to further nurture those habits and
thought processes, and encourage more and more independence and
responsibility.  The guidance becomes more by example and less by explicit
"teaching".  By the time folks are in graduate school, they should already
be physicists!  The courses ought to be more like dialogues between
colleagues than transfers of information.  I guess what I'm suggesting is a
progression from more to less hand-cultivation.

George Spagna           **********************************************
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