Physics Education Research Mentioned in Article About Obama Higher Ed Proposals

ABSTRACT: PhysLrnR’s Bill Goffe, in his post “Re: PER Mentioned in Article About Obama Higher Ed Proposal” pointed to the Chronicle of Higher Education article “4 Key Ideas in Obama's Plan to Control College Costs Bear Familiar Fingerprints” [Berrett et al. (2013)] at http://bit.ly/18dhj1F. Therein Carl Wieman, Eric Mazur, and Richard Hake are mentioned. In my opinion:

1. Berrett et al.’s claims that (a) Wieman and Mazur, are proponents of the “flipped classroom,” and (b) some of the earliest and most-cited research on the flipped classroom was conducted by R.R. Hake (1998a) - see “Interactive-engagement vs traditional methods: A six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses” at http://bit.ly/9484DG; rely on an overly broad interpretation of the “flipped classroom” to mean “students participate actively during class instead of listening passively.”

2. Both claims "a" and "b" above are misleading to those who entertain the usual meaning of “flipped classroom,” succinctly set forth by Andrea Zellner (2012) in “Flipping out? What you need to know about the Flipped Classroom” at http://bit.ly/14vMuHP. She wrote (my italics): “The flipped classroom flips this [traditional passive-student lecture model] on its head: through lecture capture software, lectures can be captured on video for students to watch at home, freeing up class time for hands-on learning activities and discussion.”
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To access the complete 21 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/150Y0rk.

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
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“People have nowadays . . . got a strange opinion that everything should be taught by lectures. Now, I cannot see that lectures can do so much good as reading the books from which the lectures are taken. Lectures were once useful; but now, when we can all read, and books are so numerous, lectures are unnecessary.”
- Samuel Johnson according to James Boswell (1791) [Samuel Johnson doubtless rolls in his grave at the thought that in the 21st Century videos are evidently replacing reading.]

REFERENCES [URLs shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 27 August 2013.]
Hake, R.R. 2013. “Physics Education Research Mentioned in Article About Obama Higher Ed Proposals” online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/150Y0rk. Post of 27 Aug 2013 18:40:06-0400 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being distributed to various discussion lists.

Faculty Try Innovative Teaching Methods, But Don't Stick With It

Andre Adler (2012) in his PhysLrnR post “Chronicle Article on Physics Teaching,” has called attention to a report “Physicists Eagerly Try New Teaching Methods but Often Drop Them, Study Finds” [Berrett (2012)].

Unfortunately, Berrett’s report is online for free only to subscribers of the Chronicle of Higher Education. But not to worry!

Thanks to Stephanie Chasteen http://sciencegeekgirl.com, an excellent press release “Faculty Try Innovative Teaching Methods, But Don't Stick With It: A study of physics faculty awareness and use of research-based instructional techniques offers greater understanding of what is missing from current education reform efforts” [AAPT (2012)] is online for free at http://www.per-central.org/press/.

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Links to Articles: http://bit.ly/a6M5y0
Links to SDI Labs: http://bit.ly/9nGd3M
Academia: http://bit.ly/a8ixxm
Blog: http://bit.ly/9yGsXh
GooglePlus: http://bit.ly/KwZ6mE
Twitter http://bit.ly/juvd52


REFERENCES
AAPT. 2012. “Faculty Try Innovative Teaching Methods, But Don't Stick With It: A study of physics faculty awareness and use of research-based instructional techniques offers greater understanding of what is missing from current education reform efforts,” press release, online at http://www.per-central.org/press/.

Adler, A. 2012. "Chronicle Article on Physics Teaching," online on the CLOSED PhysLrnR archives at http://bit.ly/PIkbKz. Post of 31 Aug 2012 18:52:37-0400 to PhysLrnR. To access the archives of PhysLnR one needs to subscribe : - ( , but that takes only a few minutes by clicking on http://bit.ly/nG318r and then clicking on “Join or Leave PHYSLRNR-LIST.” If you're busy, then subscribe using the “NOMAIL” option under “Miscellaneous.” Then, as a subscriber, you may access the archives and/or post messages at any time, while receiving NO MAIL from the list!

Berrett, D. 2012. “Physicists Eagerly Try New Teaching Methods but Often Drop Them, Study Finds,” Chronicle of Higher Education, 31 August, online to subscribers at http://bit.ly/PSQbQ .