Science Magazine - Special Section on Science Education

Some blog followers might be interested in a recent post “Science Magazine - Special Section on Science Education” [Hake (2013)]. The abstract reads:

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ABSTRACT: Articles in Science’s “Special Section on Science Education” are listed at http://bit.ly/YoZeiq and are FREE after registration at http://bit.ly/104XZ2b. Bruce Alberts, in his lead editorial “Prioritizing Science Education” at http://bit.ly/120FUoS wrote (paraphrasing and adding URL’s): “Most college faculty have not yet faced up to the urgent need to improve on the standard one-size-fits-all lecture format - see 'Grand Challenge: Undergraduate Teaching: Transformation is Possible If a University Really Cares' [Mervis (2013)] at http://bit.ly/128og0N.”

Unfortunately, aside from Mervis’ (2013) panegyric to the education research of physics Nobelist Carl Wieman, Science makes no mention of Physics Education Research (PER), even despite the Science article “Teaching in a research context” [Wood & Gentile (2003)] at http://bit.ly/SyhOvL. They wrote: “Physics educators have led the way in developing and using objective tests to compare student learning gains in different types of courses, and chemists, biologists, and others are now developing similar instruments. These tests provide convincing evidence that students assimilate new knowledge more effectively in courses including active, inquiry-based, and collaborative learning, assisted by information technology, than in traditional courses.”
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To access the complete 16 kB post please click on http://yhoo.it/YhNWtV.

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Links to Articles: http://bit.ly/a6M5y0
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Academia: http://bit.ly/a8ixxm
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“There is substantial evidence that scientific teaching in the sciences, i.e., teaching that employs instructional strategies that encourage undergraduates to become actively engaged in their own learning, can produce levels of understanding, retention, and transfer of knowledge that are greater than those resulting from traditional lecture/lab classes. But widespread acceptance by university faculty of new pedagogies and curricular materials still lies in the future.”
- Robert DeHaan (2005)

REFERENCES [URL shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 02 May 2013.]
DeHaan, R.L. 2005. “The Impending Revolution in Undergraduate Science Education,” Journal of Science Education and Technology 14(2): 253-269; online as a 152 kB pdf at http://bit.ly/ncAuQa.

Hake, R.R. 2013. “Science Magazine - Special Section on Science Education,” online on the OPEN! Net-Gold archives at http://yhoo.it/YhNWtV. Post of 02 May 2013 10:24:00-0700. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists.

Re: Research on Active Learning in Higher Education

Some blog followers might be interested in a discussion-list post “Re: Research on Active Learning in Higher Education” [Hake (2011)].

The abstract reads:

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ABSTRACT: Carolyn Hamblin of the POD list wrote (paraphrasing):

“I'm looking for research on active learning in higher education. I've found a lot in secondary ed but not much in higher ed.”

A Google search for [“higher education” “active learning”] (with the quotes but without the angle brackets) yielded 1.42 million hits on 28 July 2011 14:38-0700. After careful study of each of these hits ;-), I've selected the 20 best and referenced them in this post.
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To access the complete 19 kB post please click on http://bit.ly/pUM8jG .


Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Honorary Member, Curmudgeon Lodge of Deventer, The Netherlands
President, PEdants for Definitive Academic References which
Recognize the Invention of the Internet (PEDARRII)

rrhake@earthlink.net
http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake
http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi
http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com
http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake

“Physics educators have led the way in developing and using objective tests to compare student learning gains in different types of courses, and chemists, biologists, and others are now developing similar instruments. These tests provide convincing evidence that students assimilate new knowledge more effectively in courses including active, inquiry-based, and collaborative learning, assisted by information technology, than in traditional courses.”
Wood & Gentile (2003)


“There is substantial evidence that scientific teaching in the sciences, i.e., teaching that employs instructional strategies that encourage undergraduates to become actively engaged in their own learning, can produce levels of understanding, retention and transfer of knowledge that are greater than those resulting from traditional lecture/lab classes. But widespread acceptance by university faculty of new pedagogies and curricular materials still lies in the future. . . . . We conclude that widespread promotion and adoption of the elements of scientific teaching by university science departments could have profound effects in promoting a scientifically literate society and a reinvigorated research enterprise.”
Robert DeHaan (2005)


REFERENCES [URL’s shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 28 July 2011.]
DeHaan, R.L. 2005. “The Impending Revolution in Undergraduate Science Education,” Journal of Science Education and Technology 14(2): 253-269; the abstract and first page are online at http://bit.ly/cqIK1w.

Hake, R.R. 2011. “Re: Research on Active Learning in Higher Education,” online on the OPEN! AERA-L archives at http://bit.ly/pUM8jG. Post of 28 Jul 2011 17:04:29 -0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post are being transmitted to various discussion lists.

Wood, W.B., & J.M. Gentile. 2003. “Teaching in a research context,” Science 302: 1510; 28 November; an abstract is online at http://bit.ly/9qGR6m

High-School Science Teaching as a Profession

Some blog followers may be interested in a recent discussion-list post of the above title [Hake (2009)]. The abstract reads:

ABSTRACT: Jane Jackson, in a Physoc post of 1 July 2009, called attention to Tobias & Baffert's (2009) FREE online book Science Teaching as a Profession: Why It Isn't, How It Could Be.

I join Jane in urging teachers to (a) read the Tobias/Baffert book, and (b) work collectively to promote increased professionalism in high-school science teaching, one of the country's most vital occupations.

Biologist James Gentile, in a Huffington Post article at http://tinyurl.com/nh2uo2 provides an excellent review of Tobias & Baffert's (2009) book in the context of “Improving Science Teaching in America's Schools."

To access the complete 9 kB post, please click on https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/archives/2009/12_2009/msg00131.html .

REFERENCES

Hake, R.R. 2009. “High-School Science Teaching as a Profession,” online on the OPEN! Phys-L archives at https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/archives/2009/12_2009/msg00131.html . Post of 18-19 Dec 2009 to AERA-K, AERA-L, AP-Bio, AP-Chem, AP-Physics, Biopi-L, Chemed-L, Net-Gold, Physhare, Phys-L, PhysLrnR, & Physoc.