Re: [Phys-l] learning, judgment, self-assessment, etc.

[William Robertson <wrobert9@ix.netcom.com>]

I think Bob has hit the crucial point. It's one on one. Suppose you  
taught 25 people in a flying lesson. When you got on the ground, how  
would you debrief them? You could do it orally as a group, but then  
only certain people would speak up, and people might be less  
forthcoming in such a crowd. You could have them write down their  
reflections, but do you really think you'd get the same quality of  
information?

I disagree that motivation is an issue here. As I'm sure others here  
have done in some fashion, I have done research with students thinking  
aloud as they solved problems and then again in reflection after they  
finished. These students weren't motivated other than by the meager  
five dollars I was paying them, yet for the most part they gave  
remarkably thorough recollections of their problem-solving procedures.  
They were also quite honest about where they screwed up. Once again,  
though, this was a one on one situation with no peers around to worry  
about.

So the problem is how to get quality reflection from a large group. I  
don't have the answer to that. I do have an answer for the "there's no  
time for reflection" argument. Would you cut the amount of material  
you cover by 1/4 if you could dramatically increase student  
understanding? Not saying that's a guarantee, but if it's possible  
it's worth a try.

Bill


On May 22, 2011, at 7:28 AM, Robert Cohen wrote:

> One difference between flying lessons and science classes is that  
> flying
> lessons are typically one-on-one.