The Great Connections Seminar

The Great Connections Seminar
Discussing ethics

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Liberating Lectures

"At MIT, Large Lectures Are Going the Way of the Blackboard" - and it's a good thing.

"The physics department has replaced the traditional large introductory lecture with smaller classes that emphasize hands-on, interactive, collaborative learning. Last fall, after years of experimentation and debate and resistance from students, who initially petitioned against it, the department made the change permanent. Already, attendance is up and the failure rate has dropped by more than 50 percent."

Physics professors from MIT and around the country initiated this change because students weren't learning.

(Hat tip to Don Hauptman.)


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is great news! Do you know what activities they are using?

I am interested in the Socratic Dialogue Inducing Labs (SDI Labs).

At St. John's College, the laboratories serve to give matter for dialogue that deepens conceptual development. It's no surprise to people aware of Montessori that activity, movement and dialogue are effective components of learning.

Anonymous said...

This is great news! Do you know what activities they are using?

I am interested in the Socratic Dialogue Inducing Labs (SDI Labs).

At St. John's College, the laboratories serve to give matter for dialogue that deepens conceptual development. It's no surprise to people aware of Montessori that activity, movement and dialogue are effective components of learning.

Unknown said...

A very informative article, keep posting! sdi labs