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Re: [Phys-l] corrupting the youth



The article in JRST is available online only to members, but I know I've seen either that one or a similar study on the internet. I believe you are correct that it was a small effect, not overwhelming. And yes the explain-first presentation included exploration, but because that exploration occurred after the formal explanation of concepts, it wasn't comparable to exploration in the traditional Learning Cycle presentation. As I said, a minor footnote, because lecture-first is preferable for such a small portion of students.

I think the discovery straw man persists because discovery learning did have a brief but unsuccessful run in education circles. Rich Mayer has an excellent article on this. Mayer, R. E. (2004). Should there be a three strikes rule against pure discovery? The case for guided methods of instruction. American Psychologist, 59(1), 14-19.

Bill




On Dec 15, 2010, at 1:12 PM, John Clement wrote:

Fantastic, someone who has actually read some of the literature. Yes, the
comment about lecture-first for a small fraction of students is true, but as
I recall they also had exploration. The 3 components needed to be there,
but the order could be changed for some students. I do not have the figures
for how much better this group was, so it may not have been a huge effect.
One of the primary reasons for using the learning cycle was because it
increased student thinking ability, and if they are already high formal,
this may not be as necessary.

And yes there are a few teachers who use what I would term "free play
discovery", but this is a minority. But some cognitive scientists have the
bee in their bonnet that free play discovery is used all over the place, and
they go out of their way to set it up as a straw dummy. They ignore the
research into guided inquiry. "Nobody" would apply strongly to HS. In the
elementary and MS all kinds of strange things go on. And now in elementary
science has been almost removed from the curriculum in favor of reading &
math noodling.

John M. Clement
Houston, TX