Re: Pedagogy

[Rick Tarara <rtarara@SAINTMARYS.EDU>]

Well yes, take the test and if you pass it, you get the degree.  Some
graduate level courses are basically run this way--here is what you need to
know, go learn it, take the final, get your grade.

HOWEVER, what the curriculum and, in microcosm, individual courses are all
about is providing you a roadmap to attain the knowledge and skills you will
need to be a successful physicist (or whatever the course of studies is
about).  That roadmap provides you with a sequence of topics and a sequence
of sophistication that has proven over time to be an efficient way towards
the knowledge and skills needed.  The task of the instructor is really to be
a guide--but of course there are many ways to do that.
1)  Carefully present the material, providing examples, demonstrating
techniques, and then expecting you to go over the material and examples
until you understand them and then practice the techniques.
2)  Let you explore the material, let you discover examples, and let you try
and develop techniques but always being there to guide you back onto the
'correct' path should you stray.
3)  Tell you where the material is, where to look up examples, and where to
experience techniques and then sit back as a resource should you become too
confused.
4)  Numerous other possibilities and combinations.

All of the above require that you undergo some kind of assessment (at least
if the school want to keep their accreditation ;-).  So, there are homework
assignments (maybe even graded), quizzes, tests, lab-reports, projects, etc.
The student _should_ view all of these as evaluations of how well they are
progressing along the roadmap.

Now having said this, we have to realize a few realities.
1)  Holding a PhD in any subject is no guarantee that one can actually be a
successful guide.
2)  Often in University settings, the job of guide is considered quite
secondary to the job of bringing in grant money so the faculty member may
have little time to invest.
3)  There are of course many paths from A to B and some students certainly
find alternative paths.  However, sometimes those alternative paths _don't_
lead to the desired destination and one can spend a couple of years going
down the wrong path.
4)  It is the student's responsibility to knock on the door and first ask,
and then if necessary demand help when needed.  Being unhappy about the way
one is being guided sometimes can be fixed simply by letting the guide KNOW.
5)  Pedagogies that really do hold your hand, that walk you along the path
from beginning to end, may produce good results in the short term, but when
eventually you are thrown into the wilderness (the non-academic world) with
no map at all, do you really have the necessary skills, the necessary tools
to be successful?  Too much guidance makes one a dependent learner and,
since we all need to be life-long learners, that dependence can be
destructive in the end.

Rick

*********************************************************
Richard W. Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, Indiana
rtarara@saintmarys.edu
********************************************************


----- Original Message -----
From: "Fernanda Foertter [Advanced Physics Forums]"
<admin@ADVANCEDPHYSICS.ORG>



> while I agree with you in some respect of "active learning", how much of
the
> material should I be forced to learn on my own and then be tested on it?
>
> Afterall, if I can learn on my own Physics, then why am I here?  Cause if
> I'm here to learn on my own, then I'm basically using the university for a
> stamp of aproval...but am I not going to a learning institution?  If I
> wanted a certificate, then why not just make a generic exam for that
> certificate?
>
> Fernie