Re: [Phys-l] Inquiry

["Rick Tarara" <rtarara@saintmarys.edu>]

But ALSO...how do we learn, in practice?  That is, how have been people 
learning _outside formal academic situations_ for quite some time now? 
Getting back to the initial thread, isn't it largely by READING?  We can add 
to that many other modes of learning...we do our own inquiry, we watch and 
listen to 'educational' programs, we attend lectures and listen to radio 
programs (Public Radio), we sometimes work with others, we sometimes just 
play around, we sometimes use a 'tutor' or 'mentor', sometimes we even read 
and write to internet forums! ;-)

In my mind the _cruel_ brand of 'lecture' is a straw dog.  Who here actually 
does nothing but lecture?  Unless saddled with a crowded 500 student lecture 
room, I suspect we all use some combination of techniques to help students 
learn--or more importantly to learn how to learn.  That last is, I think, 
key here.  Even through College/University, the content is less important 
than the learning process itself, and that learning process needs to be 
viable for individual learning, away from external structures, if it is to 
be used 'life-long'.  That, to me, means becoming comfortable with all the 
things listed in the paragraph above...and more.  There is no 'one best 
way'.  Again--and I AM a broken record on this point--the 'best' way to 
teach a course, a topic, a given idea, will depend on the goals--just what 
you are trying to accomplish.  It isn't always a deep, intellectual 
understanding of some narrow topic (but sometimes it is).  I vote to use all 
the tools available--to expose students to all the tools they have and will 
have to continue their learning.  Yes, this certainly means not 'lecturing' 
all the time, but does not preclude lecturing some of the time.  Cooperative 
learning, at times...individual at other times.  Start from scratch and 
reinvent the wheel--sometimes, explore given knowledge, the applications and 
limits of validity at others.

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
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Clement" <clement@hal-pc.org>

> This is an excellent question.  But how do we learn?
>
> One thing we do is ask questions, go out and read journals.  We do
> experiments, or put out papers.  Some of us actually stay in the same rut 
> we
> had when leaving school, but we don't do it the way conventional teaching
> expects students to learn.