Sunday, February 10, 2013

Unconventional teaching tools

Down here in the southern hemisphere classes are starting up again after the summer/holiday break. In my current role as a postdoctoral fellow I'm not doing any formal teaching, and I find that I'm missing it. It's not writing lectures and grading tests that I miss, but the interaction with students. I like the challenge of trying to find a new way to explain an old topic.

Along these lines I recently came across an article discussing effective teaching methods. The author focus on a new style called "peer instruction" that encourages students to learn from one and another, rather than listen to a professor lecture for the full time.

I'm pleased to see methods like these gaining more attention. I have used this particular method in my classes and found it very effective. The students that already understand the concept get a deeper understanding by having to teach it themselves. The students having problems grasping a tough topic often learn better from someone who just figured it out themselves. This method is particularly fun when teaching field courses.

The physicists have done a lot of great work to understand more effective ways of teaching complicated scientific concepts. I'm looking forward to it being a bigger parts of other subjects as well.