Re: discovery learning

[Matt Harding <Harding.Matt@ICCSD.K12.IA.US>]

That's it, really, isn't it?  You have to trick them into wanting to
know the right answer.  These "ability focused" students don't worry
about the problem, they just worry about the answer.  Someone mentioned
this once as the difference between physicists and engineers.  Engineers
don't worry about how it works as long as it works (I'm not saying this
is true of all engineers, but I've met a few that operated this way).  

You have to find a way to present problems of emerging relevance.
Create a little bit of cognitive dissonance, then they start to ask
their own questions, and answering your own questions always serves as
better motivation than answering someone else's questions (especially,
in the later case, if you don't know why they asked it).

That's the benefit of this inquiry thing.  The motivation isn't getting
a good grade, receiving a degree, or not getting in trouble at home.  In
the "traditional" set up, your physics class is just a hoop that has to
be jumped through.  In the discovery set up, the students do the work
because they want to know the answer.  This implies, like you said, that
the stuff is worth learning.  That's why this technique for teaching
isn't the easiest, you have to present obstacles that the students view
as real obstacles, not as some sort of a magic trick (to be learned and
quickly forgotten after the test) that only applies to the front desk of
the physics classroom.  I'm not there yet myself, but I have seen the
light!  

Happy Holidays,
Matt


"An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes which can be made in a
very narrow field."
 
-  Niels Bohr


-----Original Message-----
From: Forum for Physics Educators [mailto:PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu] On
Behalf Of Steve Clark
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2003 12:09 PM
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Subject: Re: discovery learning

In fact, many students approach the instructor BEFORE actually giving=
 any serious though to the problem at hand.=20

Motivation theory describes two kinds of students in the classroom - =
one set of students are "task focused" in that their primary goal is =
to master the material, or solve the problem, or in some other way us=
e the task before them to LEARN something. Many people would describe=
 them as intrinsically motivated. Young children are primarily "task =
focused." (By young, I mean 3rd grade and below. By about the fourth =
grade we squeeze that desire to learn right out of many of them.) The=
 other group are what I call "ability focused" in that their motivati=
on pattern drives them to do what it takes to "look good to others" o=
r do well on some kind of outside assessment. While these students ma=
y actually learn physics (sometimes they just can't help themselves) =
that is not their primary objective. So, you get them developing stra=
tegies that will help them get the "right answer" in as little time a=
s possible since that is what makes them look good to the outside wor=
ld. Of course, there are many strategies that these students can use;=
 one of which is to ask the teacher for help quickly.  If you use thi=
s strategy often enough, it becomes habitual so students look for hel=
p before giving any serious thought or leg work to a problem at hand.=
 When I wrote my dissertation, I called this motivational strategy "l=
earned helplessness." (Unfortunately, that term had already been used=
 by the psychology people in describing a creature caught in a situat=
ion in which he couldn't escape. So I had to settle for "maladaptive =
motivational pattern". But I still like learned helplessness.)=20

This kind of motivational pattern is very typical of teenagers who se=
e school as a task that they must get through so they can go on to ad=
ulthood. Our job as teachers is to convince kids that what they do is=
 school does matter more than just generating a credit, that there is=
 real meaning for learning physics outside of the classroom. I think =
physics teachers have a great opportunity to help kids see the value =
of school. Everything we talk about in class has real application out=
side of class. And if what we're teaching can't be applied, then we n=
eed to find something else to teach. Hopefully our students will get =
beyond thinking like my mother - "If I turn on the light switch and i=
t comes on, then I'm happy. If it doesn't come on, then I call my son=
."

Merry Christmas!

Steve Clark, Ph.D.
-----Original Message-----
=46rom: Jack Uretsky <jlu@HEP.ANL.GOV>
Sent: Dec 16, 2003 3:46 PM
To: PHYS-L@lists.nau.edu
Subject: discovery learning

A delayed answer to Matt:
        Actually, I welcome such questions and am careful not to give=
 a
direct answer.  Questions like, "Is this right?" provide an excellent
chance to open a dialogue with the student to get the thinking proces=
s
started.  Sometimes I answer with a mock-puzzled, "How would I know, =
I
just work here", quickly followed by a "Well, let's take a look at wh=
at
you've got."  If I get a giggle in response, I know that I'm off to a=
 good
start.  The conversation can go on with:
        "I'm having a little trouble reading this, I'm not sure of wh=
at
you've got in the first line."
        Then, as you get the student explaining, you get insight
into the student's thinking, and lead them on to logical steps.  Dick=
 Hake
refers to this kind of procedure as inducing a Socratic Dialogue.
        My response to "How do I get started on this problem?" is alw=
ays:
        " OK, what's the first word you don't understand?"
        It's amazing how many times this question hits pay dirt, ther=
e
often is a word that the student needs to look up in a dictionary to =
get
started.  Other times there is confusion about what the problem is as=
king
for, or carelessness in reading the problem.  The next step is to inq=
uire
about the connection with reading assignments or lecture notes.
        In other words, the questions that Matt quotes describe the
existence of a barrier between teacher and student.  Occasions when t=
he
nature of the barrier becomes evident are the rewarding moments of
teaching.
                                        Regards,
                                                Jack

On Fri, 12 Dec 2003, Matt Harding wrote:

> Beware, in my experiences, students don't always "like" to think (i=
e =3D
> you
> find yourself answering questions such as, "is this right?", "how a=
m =3D
> I
> supposed to find (insert name of variable)?").  Sometimes they're m=
or=3D
> e
> than happy to just fulfill requirements...





--
"Don't push the river, it flows by itself"
                                Frederick Perls