There are shining examples of interactive education, though. Dr. Maria
Terrell, who teaches calculus at Cornell University, used an interactive
method that's part of a program called "Good Questions," which
is funded by the National Science Foundation.
One strategy being used in this program is called just-in-time teaching;
it is a teaching and learning strategy that combines the benefits of
Web-based assignments and an active-learner classroom where courses are
customized to the particular needs of the class. Warm-up questions, written
by the students, are typically due a few hours before class, giving the
teacher an opportunity to adjust the lesson "just in time," so
that classroom time can be focused on the parts of the assignments that
students struggled with. Harvard professor Eric Mazur, who uses this
approach in his physics class, puts it this way:
"Education is so much more than the mere transfer of information.
The information has to be assimilated. Students have to connect the information
to what they already know, develop mental models, learn how to apply
the new knowledge, and how to adapt this knowledge to new and unfamiliar
situations.
This technique
produces real results. An evaluation study of 350 Cornell students
found that those who were asked "deep questions" (that elicit
higher-order thinking) with frequent peer discussion scored noticeably
higher on their math exams than students who were not asked deep questions
or who had little to no chance for peer discussion. Dr. Terrell explains: "It's
when the students talk about what they think is going on and why, that's
where the biggest learning occurs for them…. You can hear people sort
of saying, 'Oh I see, I get it.' … And then they're explaining to somebody
else … and there's an authentic understanding of what's going on. So
much better than what would happen if I, as the teacher person, explain
it. There's something that happens with this peer instruction."
Public Stiky Notes
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