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In response to Jerry Becker's (2007) post "Richard Hake: On the Mazur
Article" to the "mathed-news" and "ncsm-members" lists, a subscriber
wrote to Becker and me privately:
"Professor Mazur's comment about assigning the reading first and then
discussing it in the next class reminded me of an anecdote when I was
researching Gordon Pask's Conversation Theory. . . . . .
.[<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Pask]. . . . A student of
Pask's was now a professor and for his class he assigned the weekly
reading. When the students came to class he asked if they had done
the reading. Then he asked if there were any questions. The students
sat there quietly, so the professor said 'well then, class
dismissed.' Supposedly the class became more interactive the next
meeting."
According to the account by Paul Halmos (1988, pages 255-265) this
method of initiating a class was one of the hallmarks of the the
"Moore Method" <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore_method>, pioneered
by the topologist R.L. Moore
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.L._Moore> at the University of Texas.
As discussed in "Re: Teaching Problem Solving - Moore Method" [Hake
(2002) [bracketed by lines "HHHHH. . . ."
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Information regarding the famous mathematician R.L. Moore and his
"Moore Method" are at the Univ. of Texas's "The Legacy of R.L. Moore"
at <http://www.discovery.utexas.edu/rlm/index.html> where it is
stated that:
"Professor Moore's method of teaching at The University of Texas was
a forerunner of inquiry-based learning, a method which has been
recommended in the report of a review of undergraduate education made
to the National Science Foundation in 1996. . . .(NSF 1996). . . .
entitled 'Shaping the Future.' What has become known as the 'Moore
Method' provides an example worth studying by anyone interested in
teaching and, in particular, provides an opportunity to learn how
teaching and research need not be separate, competing enterprises.
R.L. Moore, together with the community of his fellow teachers of
mathematics at The University of Texas, and their students and
students of students, form an historically significant and
influential group in American mathematics."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The fact that the most of the current generation of physicists,
Physics Education Researchers (PER's), and mathematicians are
oblivious of the "Moore Method" [not to mention the "Benezet Method"
(1935/36)] reminds me of my 1980's informal survey of Indiana
University physics faculty. I asked them individually if they had
ever heard of (a) Percy Bridgeman, and (b) R.W. Wood. About 80% of
faculty under 40 years of age had never heard of either! The
percentages would probably be even lower today.
I wonder how the survey would go among today's PhysLrnR's,
Phys-L'ers, and Math-Learn'ers?
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
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>
"He who knows only his own generation
Remains always a child."
Cicero (in "Orator")
REFERENCES [Tiny URL's courtesy <http://tinyurl.com/create.php>.]
Becker, J. 2007. "Richard Hake: On the Mazur Article, online at
<http://tinyurl.com/3cbdro> . Post of 24 Jul 24. 3:21 PM to
"mathed-news" and "ncsm-member."
Benezet, L.P. (1935, 1936). "The Teaching of Arithmetic I, II, III:
The Story of an Experiment." Journal of the National Education
Association 24(8): 241-244 (1935); 24(9): 301-303 (1935); 25(1): 7-8
(1936). The articles (a) were reprinted in the Humanistic Mathematics
Newsletter 6: 2-14 (May 1991); (b) are on the web along with other
Benezetia at the Benezet Centre
<http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/sanjoy/benezet/>. See also
Mahajan & Hake (2000).
Hake, R.R. 2002. "Re: Teaching Problem Solving - Moore Method," online at
<http://tinyurl.com/3droym>. Post of 22 Oct 2002 10:02:56-0700 to
Phys-L, PhysLrnR, & Math-Learn.
Halmos, P.R. 1988a. "I Want to be a Mathematician: An Automathography
in Three Parts," Mathematical Association of America, p. 258: "Some
say that the only possible effect of the Moore method is to produce
research mathematicians, but I don't agree. The Moore method is, I am
convinced the right way to teach anything and everything. It produces
students who can understand and use what they have learned. It does,
to be sure, instill the research attitude in the student - the
attitude of questioning everything and wanting to learn answers
actively -- but that's a good thing in every human endeavor, not only
in mathematical research. There is an old Chinese proverb that I
learned from Moore himself:
'I hear, I forget; I see, I remember. I do, I understand.' "
Mahajan, S. & R.R. Hake. 2000. "Is it time for a physics counterpart
of the Benezet/Berman math experiment of the 1930's?" Physics
Education Research Conference 2000: Teacher Education, online at
<http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0512202>.
NSF. 1996. "Shaping the future: new expectations for undergraduate
education in science, mathematics, engineering, and technology;
online at
<http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf96139>. See
also NSF (1998).
NSF. 1998. "Shaping the future, volume II: perspectives on
undergraduate education in science, mathematics, engineering, and
technology; online at
<http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf98128>.
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