Some subscribers to Phys-L might be interested in a post titled "Re:
Could 'Precision Teaching' and the Wider Education Communities Learn
Something From One Another? "[Hake (2010b)]. The abstract reads:
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ABSTRACT: Julie Vargas, daughter of B.F. Skinner and President of the
B.F. Skinner Foundation
<http://www.bfskinner.org/BFSkinner/Home.html>, commented on my post
"Could 'Precision Teaching' and the Wider Education Communities Learn
Something From One Another?" [Hake (2010)] as follows (quoted with
permission; my insert at ". . . .[[insert]]. . . ."):
1. [In "Behavior Analysis for Effective Teaching " (Vargas, 2009)] I
quote [Eric Mazur]. . . . . . What I didn't know was that his work
was being touted as "constructivist-oriented" "Interactive
Engagement."
2. I don't see [Mazur's] work as like Direct Instruction. . . . [[in
this post I give various conflicting meanings of the vague term
"direct instruction"]]. . . . As described in his book he just poses
practical multiple-choice questions following a mini-lecture (usually
a third of the lecture hour) students first answer and then discuss
among themselves and answer again as he walks around listening to
their explanations. There is no choral responding.
3. I'm not sure [Mazur's method] is like Precision Teaching either.
I didn't see any fluency exercises, nor student graphing.
4. But [Mazur's method] is definitely BEHAVIORAL in asking for
student responding, adjusting according to how they do answer, and in
the objectives being stated in clear terms that require "applying"
the principles to every day life in addition to just memorizing them.
REFERENCES [Tiny URL's courtesy <http://tinyurl.com/create.php>.]
Hake. R.R. 2010a. "Could 'Precision Teaching' and the Wider
Education Communities Learn Something From One Another?" online on
the OPEN! AERA-L archives at <http://tinyurl.com/ye5rrnq>. Post of 25
Mar 2010 11:47:54-0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract was also
being sent to various discussion lists and is online at
<http://hakesedstuff.blogspot.com/2010/03/could-precision-teaching-and-wider.html>
with a provision for comments.
Hake. R.R. 2010b. "Re: Could 'Precision Teaching' and the Wider
Education Communities Learn Something From One Another?" online on
the OPEN! AERA-L archives at <http://tinyurl.com/y8mnz8n> . Post of
31 Mar 2010 09:54:24 -0700 to AERA-L Net-Gold, and SClistserv. The
abstract is also being sent to various discussion lists and is online
at
<http://hakesedstuff.blogspot.com/2010/03/re-could-precision-teaching-and-wider.html>
with a provision for comments.
Vargas, J. 2009. "Behavior Analysis for Effective Teaching."
Routledge, publisher's information at <http://tinyurl.com/yzbzurp>.
Amazon.com information at <http://tinyurl.com/yc8hz2y>. Note the
searchable "Look Inside" feature. An expurgated "Google Book Preview"
is online at <http://tinyurl.com/yh7lpxk>. Vargas discusses the
following aspects of the semi-log "Standard Celeration" chart"
(SCchart) of "counts" vs time (use the ">" at the top of the page to
scroll through the pages): (a) Lindsley's development of "Precision
Teaching" and the SCchart on pages 126 and 127; (b) "counts" as a
measure of behavior at the top of page 103; (c) interpretation of
the SCchart on page 132. If I understand the "Standard Celeration"
chart correctly (please correct me if I'm wrong) it's essentially the
behavorists' version of a kinematics semilog plot of speed (time rate
of change of position) "v" vs time "t". Hence "Celeration" from the
"celeration" part of the kinematics "acceleration."