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Re: [Phys-L] rote versus understanding ... grade versus understanding



I teach in high school and learned about peer instruction at, of all
places, a summer AAPT astronomy workshop about a decade ago in SLC. It was
a different way of teaching, a different way of learning. Very foreign to
me, but it made sense. I spent much time generating questions and took a
risk when I tried it in my classes. It has revolutionized the way I teach
and the way my students learn. I used to fabricate great lessons with
great demos, but the kids were passive learners and not truly
understanding the material. Now kids have to make predictions about what
will happen (e.g., If you cover the top half of a lens, what happens to
the image?). They find the questions challenging, but learning is
constructive and requires mental effort. They have to rethink how the
world works, and many of their preconceptions are wrong. As Yoda said,
"You must unlearn what you have learned." Consider adding peer instruction
into your teaching pedagogy to increase engagement and critical thinking
skills with your students.



Phys-L@Phys-L.org writes:
I've done the same thing as Richard. I've even gotten permission to
email my former students, now in third or forth year, reminding them
of the intro chem they took with me, and asking them to be on the
lookout for examples of chemistry in their now discipline-specific
courses. Why? So I can integrate these examples into my teaching AND
share them with my colleagues.

In the past few years, I've delved into pedagogy, and wrote a book
chapter about it. I NOW TAKE A FEW MINUTES at the beginning of every
course to explain to the students about how people learn, how learning
changes as their knowledge increases, instructional strategies,
assessment, and learning and studying strategies.

For example, there is a learner progression from
passive ==> active ==> engaged ==> self-directed
The passive learner is most of my introductory students (I primarily
teach first-year). The university B.Sc. graduate should be an engaged
learner. The Ph.D. graduate must be a self-directed learner.
First-year student's are used to passive learning: the instructor
tells them what to remember, they then regurgitate that on an exam.
They are aghast when told to read the textbook or find data on the
internet to solve the problem. By explaining to them the progression,
they understand that instruction will change and their learning habits
must change. They still grumble about it, but they understand it.

I also explain that they are engaged or self-directed learners in
whatever hobby they have, from basketball to martial arts to swimming.
They are often teaching. They now need to apply that sense of
accomplishment to their academic studies.

THAT BOOK CHAPTER IS FREE.
Chapter 3 (Fundamentals of learning) is available from
www.RoguePublishing.ca/content/Communicating_Science
PLEASE share this resource with students and other instructors.

If any instructor is interested in an instructor copy of Communicating
Science (PDF format), please contact me off-list.

Enjoy!
Dr. Roy Jensen
(==========)-----------------------------------------¤
Lecturer, Chemistry
W5-19, University of Alberta
780.248.1808





On Fri, 10 Jun 2016 09:35:54 -0400, you wrote:

Greetings, One of the primary goals I had when I began teaching was to
have a demonstration for each physics concept that I taught. The number
grew as the years went by. Some were made, some were purchased, etc. The
list has grown to over 500.

Students would be motivated and the concept better understood when the
demonstration was performed either by me or many times by a student.

In many cases, the demonstration took physics out of the classroom, so
to speak, and into the real world.

And in every class, there were some students who were on the lookout for
physics in the things around them and were quick to report when they
found something.

Being able to see the physics around them really, in my opinion,
enhances the life of a person that could do so.


Have a Great Day

Website rheckathorn.weebly.com



On Jun 9, 2016, at 5:08 PM, David Craig <craigda@lemoyne.edu> wrote:

Thank you for the thoughtful feedback, I’m interested to hear more.

I lost interest a long time ago in worrying about what students SHOULD
do. (As John D has noted, this is probably not the same for every
student anyhow.) I am more concerned with what they DO do, based on some
years of observation and corresponding efforts to shape student responses
to what is asked of them.

The best students by and large take care of themselves. It is the
behavior of middling and even struggling students that I hope to socially
engineer to achieve, to the greatest extent that I can, the outcome that
I want: meaningful learning experiences. Across the board, but most
especially in more advanced courses, my starting point is the premise
that most meaningful learning in physics comes from DOING physics,
usually through thoughtful engagement with problems and projects. I’d
be hard to convince that problem sets, projects and the like are not
ESSENTIAL to meaningful learning — though it might be interesting to
hear arguments to the contrary. With that as my starting point, the
question is then, what course structures are most effective at promoting
genuine engagement (as opposed to simple answer-seeking) with the course
material by MOST (likely never all) students in the course (not just the
“good” ones.)

To observe that students “should” do this or that, for the love of
learning or because it will help them in the future or because it’s
part of being a mature learner or whatever else, may be valid — if a
bit smug — but is not especially helpful. Rather, I contend that this
is largely a structural matter. It’s not exactly revolutionary to
note that students respond differently to different sets of requirements
and expectations. What kinds of requirements and expectations are most
effective at achieving the desired outcomes? John D is quite right that
students often live up to our expectations, and indeed, those
expectations are communicated, both directly and indirectly, by what a
course asks of them. My aim in posting was to probe what others have
learned about possible answers to this question.

My experience is that offering no incentive to do homework beyond the
fact that they “should” do it to learn the materia

_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@www.phys-l.org
http://www.phys-l.org/mailman/listinfo/phys-l
_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@www.phys-l.org
http://www.phys-l.org/mailman/listinfo/phys-l