Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Farewell, Lecture?

Eric Mazur, Harvard University, is a well known physicist, who has championed active learning teaching methods in Physic.

Here's the abstract.
This article presents a method for teaching in large introductory required courses that is different from the traditional lecturing. The responsibility for gathering information now rests on the shoulders of the students. Class time is devoted to discussions, peer interactions, and time to assimilate and think. Instead of teaching by telling, we use teaching by questioning students. Research shows that learning gains nearly triple with this approach. Students not only perform better on a variety of conceptual assessments, but also improve their traditional problem- solving skills.
 http://www.sciencemag.org/content/323/5910/50.full

Eric Mazur's talk "Confessions of a Converted Lecturer" is highly compelling.