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Spare Me That Passive-Student Lecture



The Phys-L server and its 300-line limitation mercifully shielded
Phys-L subscribers from my recent rant:

Hake, R.R. 2003. "Spare Me That Passive-Student Lecture," post of 1
Oct 2003 17:07:48-0700 to ASSESS, Biopi-L, FYA, Math-Teach, PhysLrnR,
and POD; online at
<http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0310&L=pod&O=D&P=947>. A
very long (48K) diatribe with about 1015 lines and 67 references
(mostly hot-linked).

Masochists who wish to torture themselves with the entire harangue
may do so by clicking on the above URL.

They will read (in part):

In her PhysLrnR post of 29 Sep 2003 06:58:46-0700 titled "NATURE
article on inquiry & PER (Sept 18)", Jane Jackson wrote (slightly
edited):

"The Sept. 18 issue of Nature featured a report by Kendall Powell
(2003) entitled "Spare Me the Lecture . . . . "

It's nice that Physics Education Research (PER) - almost unknown in
the U.S. - is being recognized in "Nature." Colorado science writer
Kendall Powell is to be congratulated on writing an interesting and
generally accurate [if "Boulderized" (cf. "bowdlerized")] account.
However, just as for Erik Stokstad's (2000) fine "Science" article,
which covers some of the same ground, there are passages that might
mislead readers.

This post consists of two parts: I. Seven deficiencies in Powell
(2003), and II. Responses to three provocative statements by Powell
interviewees.

I. SEVEN DEFICIENCIES IN POWELL (2003)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

55555555555555555555555555555555555
5. Page 235 ORIGINAL (My CAPS): ". . . a survey that tested more than
6,000 students with the FCI at SEVERAL HIGHER-EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
showed that STRAIGHT lectures - whether boring or entertaining -
proved significantly less effective than more interactive courses (R.
R. Hake Am. J. Phys. 66, 64-74; 1998). Other factors, such as class
size and student preparedness, had little or no influence. Such
results have spread like wildfire among physics departments concerned
with improving teaching, says Mazur."

I think that this passage might have been better written as:

Page 235 REVISION: ". . . a survey [Hake (1998a,b)] that tested 62
UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE, AND HIGH-SCHOOL COURSES (total student
enrollment 6542) with the FCI showed that "traditional" (T)
instruction [PASSIVE-STUDENT lectures, recipe labs, and algorithmic
problem sets], whether boring or entertaining, proved significantly
less effective than "interactive-engagement" (IE) courses. Other
factors, such as class size; student preparedness; and the
experience, enthusiasm, talents, and motivation of the lecturers; had
little or no influence. Such results have spread like wildfire among
physics departments concerned with improving teaching, says Mazur.
HOWEVER, SUCH RESULTS AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE EXEMPLARY PHYSICS
EDUCATION RESEARCH [HALLOUN & HESTNENES (1985a,b) ON WHICH THEY WERE
BASED, HAVE SPREAD LIKE *FROZEN TAR* TO THE NRC [1997, 1999, 2003a,b
- see also Labov (2003)] AND ITS EXPERT COMMITTEES, INCLUDING McCRAY
ET AL. (2003) [See e.g., Hake (2003b,c,d,e,f,g,h,i).] "

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake@earthlink.net>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi>

REFERENCES
Powell K. 2003. "Spare me the lecture," Nature 425, 18 September, pp.
234-236; online as a 388K pdf at
<http://www.nature.com./cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v425/n6955/index.html>,
scroll down to "News Feature."