<p>Anyone else have any experience with the SCALE-UP approach to teaching physics? I just completed my E&M course and was wondering if there were any comparisons between traditional lecture courses and SCALE-UP. (If you are unfamiliar with SCALE-UP Physics, google it, or I can sum it up in a few words… SCALE-UP = teaching yourself physics so your school can maximize tuition will minimizing salaries)</p>
<p>I can’t imagine learning E&M without a decent professor lecturing. Then again many times students get stuck with a sub-par professor and end up teaching themselves anyways. I got lucky and had a great E&M professor and got a lot of out of lectures. That is definitely a class I would struggle learning on my own. </p>
<p>As far as SCALE-UP goes (I did do some reading on it) I don’t see the point of students paying for a college education and end up teaching themselves. I understand that the majority of my tuition goes towards professor salaries. This is why when I get a bad professor I ask myself why I am paying hundreds of dollars per credit to take this course.</p>
<p>My thoughts exactly. I should have just not taken the course, taught myself and took a placement test. The sad part about this course was that the professor who handed out the exercises was one of the best professors I’ve ever had. I just feel I didn’t get to take advantage of that as much as I could have in a lecture based course.</p>