While I don't usually respond to ECOLOG comments, the recent set of
exchanges on 'active teaching' is something I feel compelled to say
something about.
Below is a section from a 2004 Science article by J. Handelsman et
al. titled "Scientific Teaching"
(304: 521). The authors propose several reasons why scientists who
"demand rigorous proof for scientific assertions" continue to rely on
intuition and personal experience when discussing effectiveness of
teaching methods. These reasons include scientists being unaware of
the many studies and data showing the effectiveness of active
teaching.
"Since publication of the AAAS 1989 report "Science for all
Americans" commissions, panels, and working groups have agreed that
reform in science education should be founded on "scientific
teaching," in which teaching is approached with the same rigor as
science at its best . Scientific teaching involves active learning
strategies to engage students in the process of science and teaching
methods that have been systematically tested and shown to reach
diverse students . Given the widespread agreement, it may seem
surprising that change has not progressed rapidly nor been driven by
the research universities as a collective force. Instead, reform has
been initiated by a few pioneers, while many other scientists have
actively
resisted changing their teaching. So why do outstanding scientists
who demand rigorous proof for scientific assertions in their research
continue to use and, indeed, defend on the basis of the intuition
alone, teaching
methods that are not the most effective?"
Talking about student-active teaching is a very long conversation.
There's a huge literature in all STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, Math) areas. But just a few things: 1) Faculty who use
active teaching also lecture - they are not incompatible and actually
should be complimentary, 2) of course active teaching, like
lecturing, can be done well or poorly, 3) there are many, many
different ways to engage in active teaching.
The teaching section of TIEE (Teaching Issues and Experiments in
Ecology), tiee.ecoed.net/teach/teach.html, has some information about
active teaching. Also, TIEE has both Issues and Experiments in which
students work with data, figures from papers, and do lab and field
experiments centered about key ecological concepts and ideas. All
TIEE materials include assessment/evaluation - which is key to
scientific teaching.
--
Charlene
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Charlene D'Avanzo
Professor of Ecology &
Director, Center for Learning
Hampshire College
Homepage: http://helios.hampshire.edu/~cdNS/
TIEE: http://tiee.ecoed.net/
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