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Re: [Phys-l] Mary Burgan's Defense of Lecturing



Out of consideration for Phys-L's self-appointed style czar Brian Whatcott, I shall omit my usual plea to forgo hitting the reply button and thereby needlessly resending this already archived 19 kB message to all list subscribers.

John "Texas" Clement (2007), in his Phys-L post of 17 Feb 2007 titled "Re: Mary Burgan's Defense of Lecturing," wrote [my inserts at ". . . . [insert]. . . ."]

"Since Burgan is not in science, perhaps the best response to her editorial was published by her peers. . . . .[Weimer (2007), Calder (2007), Dowell (2007)]. . . . . Thanks to someone who posted this on another list. . . .[Karim Diff (2007) on PhysLrnR]. . . . Hake hardly needed to rebut the editorial."

It's not clear to me why John regards letters-to-the-editor composers:

1. Weimer [a professor of Teaching and Learning], Calder [chair of a History Department], and Dowell [a professor of Psychology] as more the peers of English professor Burgan, than physicist Hake.

2. as having made superfluous my own response "Mary Burgan's Defense of Lecturing" [Hake (2007)].
John evidently neglects or is unaware of the fact that Burgan (2007), although an English professor, has much to say about science and math education. Here are 12 examples [each rebutted in Hake (2007)]:

1. "Although I am concerned about the seemingly universal reliance on massive and impersonal lectures for introductory science classes, I would note that equipping science classrooms is very expensive. Spaces for learning high-tech subjects may also require demonstration equipment that cannot be replicated in a series of smaller rooms or in poorly produced visual displays."

2. "And the dependence on lecture classes by the sciences may serve cognitive as well as logistical ends."

3. "Although most science-reform programs call for faculty to find ways to apply principles so that students can see their relevance, many scientists continue to worry about whether the foundational knowledge in the 'hard' sciences can be learned effectively through group discussion."

4. "Indeed, cognitive scientists like Steven Pinker have argued that basic knowledge, not only in math but in many fields of science, cannot really be learned without a substantial amount of direct exposition."

5. "Pinker (1997), in 'How the Mind Works' criticizes the constructivists whose philosophy he describes as 'a mixture of Piaget's psychology with counterculture and postmodernist ideology.' "

6. "In the constructivist model, [Pinker] says: 'Children must actively construct mathematical knowledge for themselves in a social enterprise driven by disagreements about the meanings of concepts. The teacher provides the materials and the social milieu but does not lecture or guide the discussion. Drill and practice, the routes to automaticity, are called 'mechanistic' and seen as detrimental to understanding' [Pinker (1997, p. 341-342)]. Pinker, on the other hand, believes that concepts have to be laid out, explained, and expounded."

7. "Somewhere along the way, as a colleague who has worked in math education has commented to me, students 'must learn the arithmetic.' And they must also have its relevance explained in demonstrations of problems and theorems. In short, although both learning and teaching are social transactions, many who consider the ways in which science can be mastered believe that mastery cannot always be achieved through intimate social transactions."

8. "No faculty member can 'guide' an ordinary student into familiarity with the periodic table."

9. "It takes an extraordinary mind like that of Primo Levi or Oliver Sacks to be spontaneously fascinated by the drama of chemicals and the poetry of their symbols. Some theoretical physicists, like Richard Feynman, are born with an instinct for mathematics, but the mastery achieved by most students comes from the mental labor of learning foundational information. And even lectures by experts cannot make that easy."

10. "As a matter of fact, Feynman's three-volume set of lectures. . . . .[[Feynman (2005), Feynman et al. (2005)]]. . . . ., drawn from his introductory classes, became indispensable for those eager to learn about quantum mechanics, even though some of his undergraduate students at Cal Tech are said to have given up their seats when his lecture hall began to fill with graduate students and his scientific colleagues. Recordings of Feynman's lectures are still available; he delivers complicated ideas in a brash Queens accent, punctuated by jokes, ingenious analogies, and a friendly eagerness to accommodate undergraduate limitations."

11. "Finally, then, lecturing should be defended because a narrow view of learning as mainly self-generated misses the fact that the vitality of the educational exchange in college often derives from the engagement of the student with a professor who is himself involved in a lifetime of discovery."

12. "In an eloquent essay on the teaching/learning nexus, Robert Scholes. . . .[[2004, p. 124)]]. . . ., former president of the Modern Language Association, makes this point. We 'teach in order to learn,' he says. 'Organizing a course, preparing a lesson, we become acutely aware of what we need to know to do that job properly-and of the gap between that blessed state of perfect knowledge and our actual situations. Teaching drives us to learning - and to the learned who can help us join their company'. I suspect that Scholes's definition of college teaching best matches the understanding that drives many teachers in American higher education - whether they lecture or conduct discussions. They believe that it takes a knowledgeable, trained, passionate professional who has committed to a career in real classrooms to instigate and direct what 'students do there. ' "

In my rebuttal to "10" above. i.e., Burgan's statement that "Feynman's three-volume set of lectures drawn from his introductory classes, became indispensable for those eager to learn about quantum mechanics" I wrote:

. . .[[[But in the introduction to the 1963 edition, Feynman wrote: "The question, if course, is how well this experiment has succeeded. My own point of view - which, however, does not seem to be shared with most of the people who worked with the students - is pessimistic. I don't think I did very well by the students. When I look at the way the majority of students handled the problems on the examinations, I think the system is a failure."]]]. . .

On the other hand, John Hubisz (2007) wrote: "I have heard this story many times . . .[that the Feynman lectures were failures for the education of freshmen]. . ., but have also heard a contrary view from some of those who actually took the course. I suggest reading Matthew Sands' comments in . . . .["Feynman's Tips on Physics [Feynman et al. (2005c)]. . where he suggests otherwise having attended most of the lectures."

BTW:

1. Mary Burgan is not the first AAUP leader to express reservations regarding non-traditional forms of university education - see "Why 'Active Learning' Can Be Perilous to the Profession: Faculty and administrators are paying new attention to student learning, sometimes for the wrong reasons" [Mattson (2005)] and the rebuttal by Hake (2005b). Mattson was, at the time the president of the Ohio University AAUP chapter.

2. In the January/February issue of Change there's a valuable article "Counting and Recounting: Assessment and the Quest for Accountability" by Lee Shulman (2007). His last paragraph is:

"The current quest for accountability creates a precious opportunity for educators to tell the full range of stories about learning and teaching. Counting and recounting can only be pursued together. Counting without narrative is meaningless. Narrative without counting is suspicious. We now have an opportunity to employ the many indicators of learning that we can count for the most important stories we have to tell."

In my opinion, the essays by Burgan (2007) and Mattson (205) essay are long on narrative but woefully short on counting.

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>

"Education is the acquisition of the art of the utilization of knowledge. This is an art very difficult to impart. We must beware of what I will call 'inert ideas' that is to say, ideas that are merely received into the mind without being utilized or tested or thrown into fresh combinations."
Alfred North Whitehead (1967) in "The Aims of Education."

REFERENCES
Burgan, M. 2006. "In Defense of Lecturing," Change Magazine, November/December; online at <http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/change/sub.asp?key=98&subkey=2105>. Mary Burgan is former general secretary of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and a former English professor at Indiana University.

Calder, L. 2007. "Do Lectures Really Need Defenders?" Change Forum, Letters to the Editor, Change Magazine, January/February, online at <http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/change/index.asp?key=992>. Calder is the Chair, History Department, Augustana College, Rock Island, IL.

Clement, J. 2007. "Re: Mary Burgan's Defense of Lecturing," Phys-L post of 17 Feb 2007 23:18:28 -0600, online at <https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/archives/2007/02_2007/msg00198.html>.

Diff, K. 2007. "Re: Mary Burgan's Defense of Lecturing," PhysLrnR post of 17 Feb 2007 21:28:37-0700; online at <http://tinyurl.com/3ywqnj>/

Dowell, D.A. 2007. . "Do Lectures Really Need Defenders?" Change Forum, Letters to the Editor, Change Magazine, January/February, online at
<http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/change/index.asp?key=992>. Dowell is Vice Provost, Director of Strategic Planning and Professor of Psychology, _California State University Long Beach, _Long Beach, CA.

Feynman, R.P, 2005a. "The Very Best of the Feynman Lectures," Audio CD, New York: Basic Books, Oct. 3, 2005. See also Feynman et al. (2005b,c) and the Feynman Lectures website at <http://www.feynmanlectures.info/>.

Feynman, R.P., R.B. Leighton, M. Sands. 2005b. "The Feynman Lectures on Physics: The Definitive and Extended Edition" Addison Wesley; 2 edition; Amazon.com information at <http://tinyurl.com/2kekrl>.

Feynman, R.P., M.A. Gottlieb, & R.B. Leighton. 2005c. "Feynman's Tips on Physics: A Problem-Solving Supplement to the Feynman Lectures on Physics." Addison Wesley. Amazon.com information at <http://tinyurl.com/25bv2l>.

Hake, R.R. 2005a. "In Defense of Cross Posting," online at
<http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0507&L=pod&P=R13219&I=-3>. Post of 24 Jul 2005 21:54:34-0700 to AERA-C, AERA-D, AERA-G, AERA-GSL, AERA-H, AERA-I, AERA-J, AERA-K, AERA-L, ASSESS, BioLab, Biopi-L, EvalTalk, Math-Learn, PhysLrnR, POD, STLHE-L, TeachingEdPsych, & TIPS.

Hake, R.R. 2005b. "Questions Active Learning," online at
<http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0501&L=pod&O=D&P=27821>. Post of 29 Jan 2005 16:05:11-0800 to AERA-C, AERA-D, AERA-J, AERA-K, AERA-L, ASSESS, EvalTalk, Math-Learn, PhysL, & PhysLrnR.

Hake, R.R. 2007. "Mary Burgan's Defense of Lecturing," AERA-L post of 16 Feb 2007 22:05:16-0800; online at <http://tinyurl.com/36rkjt>; the abstract only was unapologetically [Hake (2005a)] cross-posted to AERA-A,B,C,D,G,H,I,J,K; ASSESS, AP-Physics, DrEd, EdResMeth, EvalTalk, IFETS, Math-Learn, Math-Talk, Math-Teach, Phys-L, Physhare, PhysLrnR, PsychTeacher (rejected), RUME, STLHE-L, TeachingEdPsych, and TIPS. ABSTRACT: Excerpts from Mary Burgan's Change article "In Defense of Lecturing" suggest that her essay would have been more appropriately titled "In Defense of the Sage on the Stage," since she extols lecturing sages rather than lecturers per se. Aside from my own criticisms that I triple bracket [[[. . . .]]] within the excerpts, the most incisive criticism of Burgan's lecturing sage, in my opinion, is that of Russ Hunt, who asks why the lecturing sage doesn't stop lecturing and simply defer to the sage behind Bound Optimally Organized Knowledge (BOOK). The use of BOOK rather than sages lecturing to intellectually passive students was recommended 44 years ago by chemist Frank Lambert, who called this radical departure from traditional university practice the Gutenberg method because it recognizes the invention of the printing press.

Hubisz, J. 2007. "Re: Mary Burgan's. (sic) and Feynman." PhysLrnR post of 18 Feb 2007 23:16:31-0500; online at <http://tinyurl.com/38pv6v>.

Mattson, K. 2005. "Why 'Active Learning' Can Be Perilous to the Profession: Faculty and administrators are paying new attention to student learning, sometimes for the wrong reasons," Academe 91(1), January-February; online at
<http://www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/2005/05jf/05jfmatt.htm>. For a rebuttal see Hake (2005).

Pinker, S., 1999. "How the Mind Works," Norton, Amazon.com information at <http://tinyurl.com/yoouts>.

Scholes, R. 2004. "Learning and Teaching," in "Profession 2004," pp. 118-127. Modern Language Association; for information on "Profession 2004" see <http://www.mla.org/store/CID72/PID298>.

Shulman, L.S. 2007. "Counting and Recounting: Assessment and the Quest for Accountability," Change Magazine, January/February; online at <http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/change/sub.asp?key=98&subkey=2169>.

Weimer, M. 2002. "Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice." Jossey-Bass. For information see <http://www.josseybass.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0787956465.html>.

Weimer, M. 2007. "Do Lectures Really Need Defenders?" Change Forum, Letters to the Editor, Change Magazine, January/February, online at
<http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/change/index.asp?key=992>. MaryellenWeimer is a Professor of Teaching and Learning at _Pennsylvania State University at Berks, _Reading, PA; author of "Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice" [Weimer (2002); and editor of "The Teaching Professor" <http://www.teachingprofessor.com/>.

Whitehead, A.N. 1967. "Aims of Education, " Free Press, Reissue edition.