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[Phys-L] Re: Is Anyone?



This sounds wonderful. Now if only the teachers before you could also do as
well, your job would be much easier, and perhaps students would come in with
better attitudes. The best way to accelerate student learning is to start
early.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX


This I know as I have been teaching for 40 years now.

I did find that the materials I listed DID aid me in correcting ideas the
students had after a "lecture"...my style is really more of a discussion.

I just was hoping someone was developing the same cutting edge materials
for
physics that Slatter, et al and Zeilik did for Astronomy. I only have a
few
more years of teaching in me and wanted to continue to do the best I can
for
my students.

Sheron


----- Original Message -----
From: "John Clement" <clement@HAL-PC.ORG>
To: <PHYS-L@LISTS.NAU.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2006 4:42 PM
Subject: Re: Is Anyone?


Unfortunately, I don't think there are any real shortcuts to generating
student understanding, and to promoting cognitive enhancement in student
thinking. Changing the way students think requires time. Research
shows
that it may take up to two weeks for concept accommodation. So piling
more
on in the meantime may be quite unproductive.

Taking the necessary time is not really a luxury, it is a necessity. I
realize that there are institutional issues, but when students only
partially digest material, they get very little benefit from it. So of
course one picks and chooses what material will be treated properly,
while
the rest is covered in a cursory fashion. The best solution is to find
a
way to throw out all but the essentials and then teach them well.

Most curricula were decided without any consideration for whether it is
actually possible for the student to understand and make it part of
their
thinking. Sometimes you get the best results by throwing out the idea
of
a
curriculum and instead teach for the best student cognitive enhancement.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX


It is very time consuming, a luxury I can not offer. The Lectures I do
are
not long and are very focused.
So I was hoping for materials that confronted the students like the
CAPER
team's work or Zeilik's work.

I do many many hands and minds on activities and demos and was looking
for
some other means of assessing my impact in a manner with more immediate
feedback than waiting for a test.
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