Peer to Peer Instruction

Parent Cafe
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<p>Get your clickers out and discuss. <a href=“http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/03/15/mit[/url]”>http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/03/15/mit&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I love this idea.</p>

<p>"Professor Mazur doesn’t teach anything. We have to learn it all on our own.”</p>

<p>Bingo.</p>

<p>That’s the crux of it. Teacher as coach, guiding and providing feedback, keeping students on track, correcting them when they’re wrong, showing them how to do it right, making THEM do the work. </p>

<p>That’s the problem with lecture format: a teacher can’t transplant knowledge from his/her head into a student’s. Students have to build that knowledge for themselves… and they do that by being actively engaged and motivated to learn (transactional learning). And you know what? That’s how real learning takes place outside a classroom, too.</p>

<p>No wonder these kids were lost at first. “Lower” education rewards the do-as-you’re-told herd mentality and too often penalizes the students capable of exploring learning independently. Too often, there is no room for students who learn at a different pace or in a different way or harbor misconceptions that never get discovered and corrected.</p>

<p>Long ago, one of my college profs told me, “It’s not important whether or not class is interesting for the students. It’s only important that class be interesting for the teacher.” [What he meant, of course, is that students cannot catch a passion for learning from a teacher who doesn’t possess it.] I am reminded of that remark by Herzfield’s comment: "‘It’s actually fun,’ she said of her general chemistry class where students hold up colored cards to respond to questions. 'I wouldn’t go back to teaching any other way.'”</p>

<p>And I liked this comment from MIT: "Belcher… added that some of the students complain that being forced to attend is 'treating them like high school students.'” Somebody needs to remind them of Woody Allen’s famous quote on success being mostly about showing up. :)</p>

<p>Interesting point about rote learning. I think that if Prof. Staehelin does HIS homework, he’ll find that the most effective vocabulary instruction is in context and peer teaching is a great way to do it. I’m also baffled why he seems to think that type of instruction is at odds with learning from a textbook or learning cutting-edge information.</p>

<p>I’ve read journal articles about Colorado’s attempts to invigorate science instruction, notably about transforming lecture format classes to a more research process-like, investigatory model with small-group instruction, as recommended by the Carnegie Commission among others. Can’t remember if it was Klymkowsky who was cited or not.</p>

<p>I wish my own education, even through college, had included this teaching tool. I would love to hear comments from any UC-Boulder, Harvard, Brandeis, or MIT students who’ve attended any of the classes mentioned in the article.</p>

<p>Thanks for posting this, tsdad.</p>

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<p>S has been taking math and physics classes at Harvard. The physics classes use the clicker, but I don’t know if convincing your neighbor is part of the pedagogy. The math class has study groups. Students try to work out the problems on their own; usually, they get stuck at some point. They then come to study group and explain what they’ve done to the others; the group as a whole tries to come with a good (“elegant”) explanation (this is not about finding the solution but about proving it). Then the students go back to their rooms and write up their own proofs. </p>

<p>This kind of learning, by the way, was the norm when S was in the science team in his high school. There was no lecture, but plenty of peer to peer learning. S learned a lot of his science that way.</p>

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<p>Interesting comments, Marite. Thanks for posting!</p>

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<p>Dang. This thread was on the bottom of the scree with the title partially cut off and I thought it said “Beer to Beer Instruction”.</p>

<p>Carry on.</p>

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<p>Strick:</p>

<p>Since you have been complaining that things are slow at work, the peer to peer instruction is probably not available right now. You’re not Irish, are you? Today’s your day for getting “beer to beer instruction.” :)</p>

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<p>I wasn’t complaining that things were slow. I was complaining that everyone left and no one mentioned they were leaving to me.</p>

<p>Sorry, definitely not Irish, though in truth, a close enough cousin. I may have a beer, but not one I have to chew. ;)</p>

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<p>“Long ago, one of my college profs told me, “It’s not important whether or not class is interesting for the students. It’s only important that class be interesting for the teacher.” [What he meant, of course, is that students cannot catch a passion for learning from a teacher who doesn’t possess it.]”</p>

<p>I’m just bumping this up. Maybe invert the sentence :Students catch a passion for learning from teachers who possess it.</p>

<p>That, I think, is the key to all my most memorable classes be they huge lectures or classroom discussions: a teacher’s passion.</p>

<p>And to be honest teachers like all artists need to be revitalized from time to time to keep that spark going. Although there is a science and methodology to teaching, it cannot be implemented without passion.</p>

<p>Thanks tsdad for the post!</p>