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I see the problem as students refusing to spend significant
out-of-class time on-task. If this is the case, then
50-minute lectures three or four times a week just about
becomes the only time the student spends on that course, and
I would agree that lecture is not going to work.
I place most of the blame on our whole culture of athletics
and other extra-curricular activities, plus the number of
hours spent on a job to pay for college, plus the desire for
a social life (after all, college is supposed to be the best
time of your life). But I also place some of the blame on
the anti-lecture folks who essentially attempt to bring the
studying, book reading, group work, problem solving time into
the 50-minute period. This can be interpreted as giving up
on expecting the students to do anything outside of class.
I'm willing to be a "coach" during my 50-minutes in class
rather than a lecturer, but even the athletic coaches expect
running, and weight training, and other skills development
outside of the actual "practice time." And students
cheerfully give their sport this amount of time and effort.
What could we accomplish if students viewed physics with the
same enthusiasm as they view their sport?