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Re: [Phys-l] Time Outside of Class [was Mary Burgan's Defense ofLecturing]



I teach in a private high school. Through my attending AAPT workshops on
PER (physics education research) over the past few years, I have learned
that students are ultimately responsible for their learning (e.g., peer
instruction).

I assign math homework (answers provided) which is reviewed the following
day but neither collected nor graded.

Reading the book is another issue. but you could (as I do) assign
conceptual questions from it. These I collect, write comments on, and
return to the students for quick feedback (no grade). You will see how
they "think" about physics.

Homework is practice work, so students should not be penalized for trying.
They will have to apply their knowledge on the tests. These I grade! :)

Getting them to think about physics? Nearly impossible for the average
student. Ask them in the beginning why they're in your course. I realize
today's students have many "distractions" in life. We teachers have to
make physics relevant and important to their lives. And since physics
studies the world/universe we live in, it should be the most interesting,
practical, exciting, and memorable course they ever take. Because if it's
not, we are doing our students (and physics itself) a disservice.

Forum for Physics Educators <phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu> writes:
Next question...what did you do?

My experience is that students WILL DO things if the assignments are
specific AND if they are graded (or otherwise count in a tangible way
towards their grade). Graded homework is a simple means as long as you
don't have huge classes. Getting them to read the material is
tougher--you
need to be more creative on how to assess their reading. Getting them to
think about the material, that's the really tough one. Please let us in
on
your solutions.

Rick

***************************
Richard W. Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN
rtarara@saintmarys.edu
******************************
Free Physics Software
PC & Mac
www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/software.html
*******************************

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeffrey Schnick" <JSchnick@Anselm.Edu>


I find that students are willing to spend time doing coursework/studying
outside of class/recitation/lab but that the amount of time depends on
how the course is structured/presented and what is expected of the
students. Around the turn of the century I made it a goal of mine to
structure the introductory calculus-based physics course that I teach so
that students would spend, on the average, 6-9 hours per week outside of
class/recitation/lab working on the course. For a set 9 consecutive
semesters, I included a question on the course evaluation sheet that
students fill out anonymously at the end of the semester, asking for an
estimate on how much time they spent per week on the course, outside of
class/recitation/lab. Prior to and during the corresponding period of
time I made changes to the course designed to increase the amount of
time students spent working on the course outside of
class/recitation/lab. Rounded to the nearest hour, with each horizontal
line of xs representing a semester and each x representing an hour per
week, here in sequential order, starting with a Fall (semester I of the
2-semester course) semester, is what the students, averaged over the
students in the class for the corresponding semester, estimated:

xxxx
xxxxx
xxxx
xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxxx
xxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx

Jeff Schnick


_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l