Re: [Phys-l] pedagogical reform in an introductory biology class - a response

["Robert G. Fuller" <rfuller8311@comcast.net>]

> An article in the Chronicle of Higher Education makes a brief
> mention of physics education research, as does the associated paper 
> in Science (linked in the
> article).
>
> http://chronicle.com/article/Low-Cost-Instructional-Changes/127747/


Beverly Karplus Hartline and I drafted a response letter to the 
editor of Science about the referenced article.  It was not accepted 
for publication, so we can share it with you here:

Haak et al. (Reports, 6 June 2011, p. 1213) report improved student 
learning and a dramatically reduced achievement gap between 
disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students taking a highly 
structured introductory biology course, compared with more 
traditionally taught, lecture-intensive versions of the course.  The 
mandatory (graded) active-learning exercises included pre-class 
reading quizzes, daily multiple-choice clicker questions in a 
peer-instruction format, weekly practice exams, and extensive 
informal group work in class.  The authors' measurement of the 
effectiveness of the low-cost active-learning instructional approach 
compared with traditional lecture and 'hybrid' approaches mixing 
lecture with optional active-learning activities provides important 
convincing evidence that has been all too anecdotal in the past. This 
work reminded us of Robert Karplus' pioneering, now 30+ year-old idea 
(1) about the importance of both student autonomy and input from the 
expert teacher to accelerate and reinforce student learning of any 
subject that requires understanding of concepts and principles. For a 
more complete discussion of these and related ideas in science 
education by Karplus, see "A Love of Discovery." (2)

Attracting students to science and helping them learn is a primary 
professional purpose of many readers of Science. How can we enable 
science teaching and learning at all levels to adopt the advances and 
'proven practices,' such as those described by Haak et al., with 
similar speed and efficiency as we demonstrate in the advancement of 
the frontiers of discovery, tools, and techniques in our disciplinary 
and interdisciplinary research? 


References
1.	R. Karplus, Am. J. Phys. 49, 811 (1981).
2.      R.G. Fuller (editor), "A Love of Discovery: Science 
Education--the Second Career of Robert Karplus", Kluwer 
Academic/Plenum, New York (2002).


Yours truly,
Robert Fuller