Teach Talk 4 -- Teaching and Learning: Who's in Charge?
"Student-Centered Learning." "Active Learning." "Participatory Learning." We hear these terms a lot lately in association with best practices in pedagogy. Proponents of student-centered learning claim that it will develop cognitive and critical skills more effectively, improve academic performance, and motivate students' long-term engagement with the learning process.
For those who are unfamiliar with the term, "active learning" is defined by Bonwell and Eison in their 1991 book Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom as a learning environment in which "students must do more than just listen: They must read, write, discuss, or be engaged in solving problems. Most important, to be actively involved, students must engage in such higher-order thinking tasks as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Within this context, it is proposed that strategies promoting active learning be defined as instructional activities involving students in doing things and thinking about what they are doing." In general, then, active learning strategies encourage a move away from lecture-based material delivery to activity or discussion-based class sessions where students have at least some control over course content and structure.
Those who question the effectiveness of active-learning strategies argue that the process is too time-consuming, interferes with delivery and coverage of required content, undermines the authority of the instructor, requires lower academic standards and is resisted by students who are uncomfortable with taking on so much responsibility for the education for which they are, after all, paying.
Below are excerpts from two recent pieces in The Chronicle of Higher Education that outline a few of the pros and cons of student-centered learning (along with some links to further resources on active learning). What do you think? Do you feel that student-centered or active learning activities take away from course content and/or the academic rigor of the course? Do you feel the time required to adopt active-learning strategies pays off? Is student-centered learning the kind of thing that is more appropriate to upper-division courses rather than introductory ones, or to some disciplines but not others?
Lara
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'Look at Me!' A Teaching Primer
Marshall Spector is a professor of philosophy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
The inspired presentation of material is very good at transmitting information, but not necessarily good at maintaining or increasing students' interest in the subject. When a good lecturer clearly and completely covers the material, there is nothing to be said except: "OK, now I know how to solve second-order differential equations." "So that's what Hume really said about causality!" "Now I know how to do a reductio ad absurdum proof." "Wasn't that teacher great?"
… Recognizing that our students too want to be able to say proudly "Look at me!" is not a deep insight. But it carries in its wake the realization that the inspired presentation of material cannot satisfy that desire, and hence may not be the best way to maintain students' continued interest in the subject matter. … Realizing that our students share our need for recognition of creative accomplishment (or at least the valiant attempt at it) also indicates the kinds of strategies that we can use to satisfy their need, and thus to keep them interested. We can ask questions, make provocative claims, stage debates, even lecture from time to time -- but our goal must be to generate a situation in which students attempt to sort out the issues and relate them to their own experience, solve the problems involved, convince one another (and perhaps the teacher) of their own views -- in short, to do the sorts of things that we would do among our colleagues.
…It was a frightening feeling at first to watch a heated discussion among students where I -- the teacher -- couldn't get in a word edgewise, or where they would respectfully listen to my view (when I insisted on giving it) and then quickly get back to debating their own views. It was only with great difficulty that I came to see that those were the occasions when the course was succeeding -- proceeding toward the goal of self-sustaining, continued interest in the material.
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i05/05b01501.htm
We Are Smarter Than Our Students
Miriam Kalman Harris is an associate professor of English at Tarrant County College, in Fort Worth.
More than once I've been called a snob. Intellectual snob, that is. Students mean the accusation as a slur, as in: "I know you're a doctor and all that, but you act like you're smarter than us, and that makes us feel bad."
The first time I heard such a comment, I was speechless. Who do they think we are? What kind of professor, with or without a Ph.D., isn't "smarter" than his or her students? And if we aren't smarter, then what in heaven's name are we doing teaching?
…Do I sound old-fashioned? I hope so, because I find the new fashion repugnant, and bad for the health of our country. …I propose a movement, a revolution not unlike the one in the '60s, when students demanded a voice in shaping their own education. They were right to insist that their diversity and their goals be considered relevant to their courses. But now we of academe, even as we invite organized student input, must reassert our voice of authority, require students to master the curriculum, and penalize those who try to negotiate their way to a degree.
In addition to understanding that a grade is not something negotiated on the first day of class, we must make students aware of what it takes to earn a good grade. They need to know that simple actions like showing up for class, participating in discussions, taking notes, asking questions, and turning in assignments on time are critical to the quality of work that gets an A. …
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i07/07b01401.htm
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Further resources:
Active Learning
Navigating the Bumpy Road to Student-Centered Instruction
Supporting and Facilitating Self-Directed Learning
Bibliography on Active Learning
Todd Timberlake, Physics:
I have taken my own first "baby steps" toward using more "active learning" strategies in my introductory class this semester. I am using what are called "ConcepTests", a technique pioneered by physicist Eric Mazur at Harvard (although it has probably existed in other disciplines for some time). The idea is to pose a conceptual question about physics to the class, preferably a multiple-choice question. The class then votes on the answer that they think is correct. If there is a divided opinion, I ask the students to discuss the problem among themselves (with no input from me) to try to come to a consensus. After they have had some time for discussion I take another vote. The hope is that more students vote for the correct answer after the discussion.
I have enjoyed using this technique when it works, but it is frustrating when it fails. The primary way in which it fails is that the students all vote for the correct answer right off the bat. This makes the whole ConcepTest seem like a waste of time. It is difficult for me to judge which questions will draw a divided opinion and which will lead to a homogeneous response. As I continue to use this technique I expect to get better at creating these ConcepTests.
As to which classes are most appropriate for implementing these techniques, I feel that intro physics classes are much more appropriate than advanced classes. Most of the major concepts are learned in an introductory course, while advanced courses focus more on mathematical techniques (this is a broad generalization, for instance Modern Physics deals with a number of new concepts). I am uncertain how active learning could be incorporated into the presentation of these advanced mathematical techniques. The active learning in upper-level physics courses comes when students work on homework or projects. They work together and usually seek help from me. This leads to a great deal of one-on-one instruction in which the student plays a very active role. But I'm not sure that ConcepTests would work in an upper-level physics course.
Anyway, that's my thought about applying active learning to physics. Mainly I just wanted to let everyone know that even the "dreaded scientists" are using these ideas. So active learning can even be applied to disciplines in which there are very definite correct answers to the questions. As I said, I am only just beginning to use these strategies. I hope to learn more when I attend a teaching workshop in November and when I teach Writing-Intensive Quantum Mechanics next semester. I may have a new view after that!
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