Re: Could 'Precision Teaching' and the Wider Education Communities Learn Something From One Another?

Some blog followers might be interested in a post titled “Re: Could 'Precision Teaching' and the Wider Education Communities Learn Something From One Another? “[Hake (2010b)]. The abstract reads:

########################################

ABSTRACT: Julie Vargas, daughter of B.F. Skinner and President of the B.F. Skinner Foundation http://www.bfskinner.org/BFSkinner/Home.html , commented on my post “Could 'Precision Teaching' and the Wider Education Communities Learn Something From One Another?" [Hake (2010a)] as follows (quoted with permission; my insert at “. . . .[[insert]]. . . .”):

1. [In “Behavior Analysis for Effective Teaching ” (Vargas, 2009)] I quote [Eric Mazur]. . . . . . What I didn't know was that his work was being touted as "constructivist-oriented” "Interactive Engagement."

2. I don't see [Mazur's] work as like Direct Instruction. . . . [[in this post I give various conflicting meanings of the vague term “direct instruction"]]. . . . As described in his book he just poses practical multiple-choice questions following a mini-lecture (usually a third of the lecture hour) students first answer and then discuss among themselves and answer again as he walks around listening to their explanations. There is no choral responding.

3. I'm not sure [Mazur's method] is like Precision Teaching either. I didn't see any fluency exercises, nor student graphing.

4. But [Mazur's method] is definitely BEHAVIORAL in asking for student responding, adjusting according to how they do answer, and in the objectives being stated in clear terms that require "applying" the principles to every day life in addition to just memorizing them.

To access the complete 18 kB post, please click on http://tinyurl.com/y8mnz8n .

REFERENCES [Tiny URL's courtesy http://tinyurl.com/create.php .]

Hake. R.R. 2010a. “Could 'Precision Teaching' and the Wider Education Communities Learn Something From One Another?" online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://tinyurl.com/ye5rrnq . Post of 25 Mar 2010 11:47:54-0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract was also sent to various discussion lists and is online at http://hakesedstuff.blogspot.com/2010/03/could-precision-teaching-and-wider.html with a provision for comments.

Hake. R.R. 2010b. “Re: Could 'Precision Teaching' and the Wider Education Communities Learn Something From One Another?" online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://tinyurl.com/y8mnz8n . Post of 31 Mar 2010 09:54:24 -0700 to AERA-L Net-Gold, and SClistserv. The abstract is also being sent to various discussion lists.

Vargas, J. 2009. Behavior Analysis for Effective Teaching. Routledge, publisher's information at http://tinyurl.com/yzbzurp . Amazon.com information at http://tinyurl.com/yc8hz2y. Note the searchable “Look Inside” feature. An expurgated “Google Book Preview” is online at http://tinyurl.com/yh7lpxk . Vargas discusses the following aspects of the semi-log “Standard Celeration” chart” (SCchart) of “counts” vs time (use the “>” at the top of the page to scroll through the pages): (a) Lindsley's development of “Precision Teaching” and the SCchart on pages 126 and 127; (b) “counts” as a measure of behavior at the top of page 103; (c) interpretation of the SCchart on page 132. If I understand the “Standard Celeration” chart correctly (please correct me if I'm wrong) it's essentially the behavorists' version of a kinematics semilog plot of speed (time rate of change of position) “v” vs time “t”. Hence “Celeration” from the “celeration” part of the kinematics “acceleration.”

Could 'Precision Teaching' and the Wider Education Community Learn Something From One Another?

Some blog followers might be interested in a post titled “Could ‘Precision Teaching’ and the Wider Education Community Learn Something From One Another.”

The abstract reads:

############################

ABSTRACT: In response to “Re: Confessions of a Converted Lecturer #2” [Hake (2010b)], Joshua Garner (2010) of the behaviorist-oriented “Precision Teaching” SClistserv list wrote: “By applying simple behavioral psychology principles in a college physics class student performance increased. . . . duh. . . . by the end of the video I said to myself, 'Gee this guy is using direct instruction and active student responding (in an around-about way)’. ”

But, the wider education community generally regards Mazur's approach as the constructivist-oriented “Interactive Engagement,” loosely speaking, the polar opposite of “direct instruction.”

The insularity of education research was further demonstrated by SClistserv's J.W. Eshleman (2010) who, responding to “Re: Confessions of a Converted Lecturer #5” [Hake (2010c)], referenced three methods to measure and enhance the degree of student learning in a “lecture,” all developed *within* the Precision Teaching Community (PTC), ignoring such methods developed *outside* the PTC - over 30 such are discussed in the double-asterisked references to this post.

Considering the Garner and Eshleman posts, could the "Precision Teaching" and wider education communities learn something from one another?

############################

To access the complete 35 kB post please click on http://tinyurl.com/ye5rrnq .

REFERENCES [Tiny URL's courtesy http://tinyurl.com/create.php .]

Eshleman, J.W. 2010. “Re: Confessions of a Converted Lecturer #5,” SClistserv post of 22 Mar 2010 14:16:47-0400. Online on the OPEN! SClistserv archives at . SClistserv is short for “Precision Teaching/Standard Celeration Charting.” The masthead at the archives http://tinyurl.com/y8twxf6 reads: “The Standard Celeration listserve (SClistserv) came about to serve all people interested in precision teaching (PT) and standard celeration charting. . . . . . .” As indicated in Hake (2007), Ogden Lindsley (1991, 1992), a disciple of B.F. Skinner, is evidently the founder of “Precision Teaching” and inventor of the “Standard Celeration” chart (SCchart). For other references see Fluency.org http://www.fluency.org/ ; “Precision Teaching Hub and Wiki Blog” [Claypool-Frey (2010)l; “Precision Teaching and Standard Celeration Charting” [Kubina 2010); and the Standard Celeration Society [SCC (2010)]. For a good set of references see Clayton et al. (2007). For related books see e.g., Gardner et al. (1994), Heward et al. (2004), Heward (2008), Johnston & Pennypacker (2008), & Vargas (2009). Vargas (2009) discusses (a) Lindsley's development of “Precision Teaching” and the SCchart; (b) “counts” as a measure of behavior; and (c) interpretation of the SCchart.

Garner, J. 2010. “Re: Confessions of a Converted Lecturer #2,” SClistserv post of 20 Mar 2010 18:54:50-0700; online on the OPEN! SClistserv archives at http://tinyurl.com/y8o6mge.

Hake. R.R. 2010, “Could 'Precision Teaching' and the Wider Education Communities Learn Something From One Another?" online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://tinyurl.com/ye5rrnq. Post of 25 Mar 2010 11:47:54-0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract is also being sent to various discussion lists.

Re: Confessions of a Converted Lecturer #5

Some blog followers might be interested in a post of the above title [Hake (2010)].

The abstract reads:

************************************************

ABSTRACT: In response to "Re: Confessions of a Converted Lecturer" [Hake (2010)]; UK physicist Lewis Elton (2010) wrote that:

(a) he had abandoned the passive-student lecture in 1969, long before Eric Mazur,

(b) his contributions to the debate over lectures had been neglected, and

(c) he would appreciate anything I might be able to do to remedy "b".

In this post I attempt to remedy the perceived neglect of Elton's contributions by quoting extensively from his article "Could undergraduate physics teaching be better?" [Elton (2004)].

************************************************

To access the complete 38 kB post please click on http://tinyurl.com/yapgbok .

REFERENCES [Tiny URL's courtesy http://tinyurl.com/create.php .]

Elton, L. 2004. "Could undergraduate physics teaching be better?" The Pantaneto Forum, Issue 16, October, online at http://www.pantaneto.co.uk/issue16/front16.htm.

Hake, R.R. 2010. “Re: Confessions of a Converted Lecturer #5,” online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://tinyurl.com/yapgbok. Post of 21 Mar 2010 11:35:39-0700 to AERA-L, Net-Gold, and PBL.

Re: Confessions of a Converted Lecturer

Some blog followers might be interested in a post of the above title (transmitted to about 30 discussion lists on 16 March 2010) regarding Eric Mazur's http://mazur-www.harvard.edu/ engaging talk "Confessions of a Converted Lecturer" at the University of Maryland on 11 November 2009. (I thank Joan Middendorf of Indiana University for calling my attention to Eric's talk.)

The abstract reads:

“I thought I was a good teacher until I discovered my students were just memorizing information rather than learning to understand the material. Who was to blame? The students? The material? I will explain how I came to the agonizing conclusion that the culprit was neither of these. It was my teaching that caused students to fail! I will show how I have adjusted my approach to teaching and how it has improved my students' performance significantly.”

That talk is now on UTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwslBPj8GgI ; and the abstract, slides, and references - sometimes obscured in the UTube talk - are at http://tinyurl.com/ybc53jw as a 4 MB pdf.

As of 16 March 2010, Eric's talk had been viewed by some 12,800 UTube fans!

In contrast, serious articles in the education literature, often read only by the author and a few cloistered academic specialists, usually create tsunamis in educational practice equivalent to those produced by a pebble dropped into the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

For other commentary critical of the passive-student lecture - staple of U.S. higher education - see e.g.:

a. “Scholars at a Lecture” [Hogarth ((1822)];

b. "The Lecture System in Teaching Science" [Morrison (1986)] - a MUST-READ all-time classic!;

c. “Science Lectures: A relic of the past? [Mazur (1996)];

d. "The College Lecture, Long Derided, May Be Fading” [Honan (2002)];

e. "Re: The college lecture may be fading" [Hake (2002)];

f. “Mary Burgan's Defense of Lecturing” [Hake (2007)];

g. "At M.I.T., Large Lectures Are Going the Way of the Blackboard" [Rimer (2009)];

h. "Farewell, Lecture?" [Mazur (2009)].

Yes, I'm aware of the seemingly lecture-friendly:

1. “A time for telling” [Schwartz & Bransford (1998)];

2. “Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching” [Kirschner, Sweller, & Clark (2006)].

Regarding Schwartz & Bransford (1998), their abstract ends: ”. . .the results indicate that there is a place for lectures and readings in the classroom IF STUDENTS HAVE SUFFICIENTLY DIFFERENTIATED DOMAIN KNOWLEDGE TO USE THE EXPOSITORY MATERIALS IN A GENERATIVE MANNER.” [My CAPS.]

In response, I wrote in “Re: Constructivism in the APB classroom” [Hake (2008a)]:

“But judging from the abysmally low pre-to-post test average normalized gains on tests of conceptual understanding for traditional high-school and college mechanics courses (Hake (1998a,b)], it would appear that the traditional learning strategy given to students by instructors for learning physics . . . . does NOT supply students with 'sufficiently differentiated domain knowledge to use the expository materials in a generative manner' [a loose translation from the psychologize might be: ‘sufficient conceptual understanding to benefit from the lecture.’ “

Regarding Kirschner, Sweller, & Clark (2006), as indicated in "Language Ambiguities in Education Research" [Hake (2008b)], their failure to operationally define pedagogical terms hinders any meaningful interpretation of their paper. Quoting Klahr and Li (2005) “we suggest that those engaged in discussions about implications and applications of educational research should focus on clearly defined instructional methods and procedures, rather than vague labels and outmoded '-isms.' ”

REFERENCES [Tiny URL's courtesy http://tinyurl.com/create.php.]

Hake, R.R. 1998a. “Interactive-engagement vs traditional methods: A six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses,” Am. J. Phys. 66: 64-74; online at http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi/ajpv3i.pdf (84 kB).

Hake, R.R. 1998b. “Interactive-engagement methods in introductory mechanics courses,” online at http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi/IEM-2b.pdf (108 kB). A crucial companion paper to Hake (1998a).

Hake, R.R. 2002. "Re: The college lecture may be fading," online on the OPEN! POD archives at http://tinyurl.com/y8kddm6 . Post of 21 Aug 2002 15:34:25-0700 to Chemed-L, EvalTalk, Math-Learn, Math-Teach, Phys-L, PhysLrnR, and POD.

Hake, R.R. 2007. “Re: Mary Burgan's Defense of Lecturing,” online on the OPEN! POD archives at http://tinyurl.com/yftrgmt . Post of 20 Feb 2007 15:45:37-0800 to Chemed-L, PhysLrnR, & POD.

Hake, R.R. 2008a. “Re: Constructivism in the APB classroom,” online on the OPEN! AERA-K archives at http://tinyurl.com/yj556qd .

Hake, R.R. 2008b. “Language Ambiguities in Education Research,” submitted to the Journal of Learning Sciences on 21 August 2008 but mindlessly rejected; online at http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/LangAmbigEdResC.pdf (1.2 MB).

Hogarth, W. 1822. “Scholars at a Lecture,” online at http://www.artoftheprint.com/artistpages/hogarth_william_scholarsatalecture.htm .

Honan, W.H. 2002. "The College Lecture, Long Derided, May Be Fading,” New York Times, August 14, 2002; online at http://tinyurl.com/yjsanjf .

Kirschner, P.A., J. Sweller, & R.E. Clark. 2006. “Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching.” Educational Psychologist 41(2): 75-86; online at http://tinyurl.com/3xmp2m (176 kB).

Klahr, D. & J. Li. 2005. “Cognitive Research and Elementary Science Instruction: From the Laboratory, to the Classroom, and Back,” Journal of Science Education and Technology 14(2): 217-238; online as a 536 kB pdf at http://tinyurl.com/2b62uk (536 kB).

Mazur, E. 1996. “Science Lectures: A relic of the past? Physics World 9: 13-14; online at http://mazur-www.harvard.edu/sentFiles/Mazur_22862.pdf (1 MB).

Mazur, E. 2009. "Farewell, Lecture?" Science 323 (5919): 50-51, 2 January; online to subscribers at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/323/5910/50 . Free toall at http://tinyurl.com/sbys4 .

Morrison, R.T. 1986. "The Lecture System in Teaching Science," in Proceedings of the Chicago Conferences on Liberal Education, Number 1, Undergraduate Education in Chemistry and Physics (edited by Marian R. Rice). The College Center for Curricular Thought: The University of Chicago, October 18-19, 1989; online at http://entropysite.oxy.edu/morrison.html, thanks to Gutenberg lecture pioneer Frank Lambert. (The Gutenberg lecture method recognizes the invention of the printing press!)

Rimer, S. 2009. "At M.I.T., Large Lectures Are Going the Way of the Blackboard," New York Times, 12 January; online at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/13/us/13physics.html?_r=1? (with 74 comments as of 15 March 2010).

Schwartz, D. L. & J. D. Bransford, 1998. "A time for telling," Cognition & Instruction 16(4): 475-522; an abstract is online at http://www.jstor.org/pss/3233709.

Assessment Question (ahhhhhhhhhhhh :-) ! !)

Some blog followers might be interested in a post of the above title [Hake (2010)]. The abstract reads:

*************************************************

ABSTRACT: In a recent popular TIPS thread “assessment question (AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH)” psychologists commendably focus on testing so as to assess the effectiveness of their department's program for their *majors*.

But how about the effectiveness of the GENERAL INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY COURSE given to tens of thousands of *both majors and nonmajors* nationwide every year ?

Most psychologists appear to be either dismissive or oblivious of the fact that “Conceptual Inventories” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_inventory , developed through arduous quantitative and qualitative research by disciplinary experts, are currently being used to improve undergraduate - and some high-school - courses in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines (BUT NOT PSYCHOLOGY!)

*************************************************

To access the complete 12 kB post please click on http://tinyurl.com/y9se44y.

REFERENCES [Tiny URL's courtesy http://tinyurl.com/create.php.]

Hake, R.R. 2010. “Assessment Question (ahhhhhhhhhhhh :-) ! !)”, online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://tinyurl.com/y9se44y . Post of 3 Mar 2010 09:30:08 -0800 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract is being sent to various discussion lists.