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Re: [Phys-l] Lecture Isn't Effective: More Evidence #2

The problem we encounter is a lack of transfer of skills. I have students
who got As and Bs in English Comp. but their writing is still abysmal in
their first few lab reports. If we want to get them to understand that
writing is a skill that is used everywhere, we must make them use it
everywhere. I recommend to you the books by William Zinsser and the idea
of "Writing Across the Curriculum" when it is done in earnest and with
purpose.

Peter Schoch



I strongly differ from Mike ob tge subject of writing lab reports.. Note
that there were no lab reports required in my "discussion lab"
modifications of Hake's "Socratic Dialogue" labs, nor in the originals.
The reason is that lab reports, or articles describing lboratory results,
are almost uniformly baaad, in the sense of being almost unreadabble. As
evidence, I offer almost any issue of either Nature, of its unfortunate
sister, Cience. A readable lab report tells a story, hopefully in an
interesting way. Preparation for thi kind of writing occurs in classes
devoted to composition and creative writing.
The typical industrial or governmaental lab report is an
abomination that should exist only to exemplify bad writing habits.
Regrds,
Jack

"Trust me. I have a lot of experience at this."
General Custer's unremembered message to his men,
just before leading them into the Little Big Horn Valley




On Fri, 22 Jul 2011, Michael Edmiston wrote:

In his response to my post about students not spending the necessary
out-of-class time on their coursework, John Clement questioned whether
working problems out of class is effective. I would say it is effective
for
some students and not for others. I want to make it clear that when I
stated students should spend three hours on task each week for each hour
of
course credit (counting class time) I was not suggesting that this whole
out-of-class time would be spent working problems.

Major point: Each student should spend whatever out-of-class time it
takes... using whatever learning method works for each student... to
assure
that he or she gains a reasonable grasp of the course material.

We know some students can learn from reading the textbook. Others can
learn
from working problems by themselves while others learn better from
solving
problems in a group. Some students can make good use of office hours to
ask
specific questions to the professor. Some are bold enough to ask
questions
in class. Some learn a lot from the labs. Other than academic
dishonesty I
don't care what method works for each student, but I certainly expect
each
student to discover and utilize whatever works for him or her.

Even though some don't learn well from problems, I do assign problems
because students need at least some experience trying to solve problems.
I
also require that students keep a lab notebook and analyze lab data and
write a lab report because scientists need experience doing these
things.
But problems and lab reports should not take the whole out-of-class
on-task
time allotted by the adage of 3-hours work for each hour of credit.
Once
the assigned work is completed, its' up to the student to figure out
what
study method works best during the rest of the time.

Rick Tarara mentioned "life-long-learning." We have had several
university-wide discussions about life-long-learning and instilling this
in
students is one of my goals. This goal is not inconsistent with what I
have
said above; that is, all students have to figure out how they learn
best,
and they also need to realize they are capable of learning, and that
learning things is is rewarding. If they can get to that point, they
are on
the road to life-long-learning. This is not likely to happen if the
only
thing they do is attend classes because that is more likely to instill
the
belief that their learning is dependent on the professor.

I also agree with what Rick said about straight lecture being rare. I
have
observed very few profs at my institution giving 50-minute "speeches."
All
kinds of techniques are used. Even so, the students aren't going to
learn
enough from those class periods only. They need more on-task time out
of
class than they need in-class time. I still believe 2-hours out of
class
for each hour in class is in the right ballpark.

Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Professor of Chemistry and Physics
Chair, Division of Natural and Applied Sciences
Bluffton University
1 University Drive
Bluffton, OH 45817
419.358.3270 (office)

_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l

_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l