Don't Lecture Me | American RadioWorks by Emily Hanford College students spend a lot of time listening to lectures. But research shows there are better ways to learn. And experts say students need to learn better because the 21st century economy demands more well-educated workers. Lecturing was invented as a way to share information in a time before books were widely available. The traditional college lecture has never been a good way to learn. In the past 30 years, scientists have discovered a lot about how people learn. The Tomorrow's College series is funded by a grant from Lumina Foundation, which is committed to enrolling and graduating more students from college, and by a grant from the Spencer Foundation, which is dedicated to the belief that research is necessary to the improvement of education.
Le jour où la proviseure a interdit les cours Le lycée Jean-Jaurès d’Argenteuil, c’est un établissement qui joue la polyvalence jusqu’au bout. Un lycée ZEP, dont le caractère industriel et scientifique est affirmé. 80 % de garçons, de bons résultats aux examens, un dynamisme pédagogique plutôt marqué, une assez bonne image. Tout semble bien aller et pourtant... C’est une montée de signes de non-adhésion à l’école parmi les élèves (absentéisme grandissant, agressivité en cours allant jusqu’au refus agressif de « jouer le jeu » dans certaines classes) qui nous a alertés. Et qui nous a fait émettre une hypothèse : les élèves n’ont pas de plaisir à être à l’école, celle-ci n’a pas de sens pour eux, à moins que le signe qu’elle renvoie ne soit que l’on ne veut pas d’eux ! Malaise... À partir de ce constat, nous avons organisé une demi-journée de réflexion mêlant professeurs, délégués et quelques parents, préparée par le comité de pilotage du projet d’établissement. une semaine de rupture Un sentiment de réussite Annie TobatyProviseure
The Problem with Lecturing Back in the late 1970s a colleague came to David Hestenes with a problem. The two of them were physics professors at Arizona State University. Hestenes was teaching mostly graduate students, but his colleague was teaching introductory physics, and the students in his classes were not doing well. Semester after semester, the class average on his exams never got above about 40 percent. "And I noted that the reason for that was that his examination questions were mostly qualitative, requiring understanding of the concepts," says Hestenes. Most professors didn't test for this kind of understanding; students just had to solve problems to pass the exams. This observation prompted a series of conversations between Hestenes and his colleague about the difference between being able to solve problems and really understanding the concepts behind those problems. Testing Understanding They developed a multiple-choice test, now known as the Force Concept Inventory, or FCI. Taking It to Heart
Rethinking the Way College Students Are Taught It's a typical scene: a few minutes before 11:00 on a Tuesday morning and about 200 sleepy-looking college students are taking their seats in a large lecture hall - chatting, laughing, calling out to each other across the aisles. Class begins with a big "shhhh" from the instructor. This is an introductory chemistry class at a state university. Students in this class say the instructor is one of the best lecturers in the department. Student Marly Dainton says she doesn't think she'll remember much from this class. "I'm going to put it to short-term memory," she says. One of the Oldest Teaching Methods Research conducted over the past few decades shows it's impossible for students to take in and process all the information presented during a typical lecture, and yet this is one of the primary ways college students are taught, particularly in introductory courses. It's a tradition going back thousands of years. Redish is trying to change the way college students are taught. How People Learn
The effects of school quality on long-term health Volume 30, Issue 6, December 2011, Pages 1320–1333 Special Issue: Economic Returns to Education Edited By Colm Harmon and Matt Dickson Abstract In this paper I estimate the relationship between school quality and mortality. Highlights ► I examine the relationship between school quality and mortality. ► School quality is measured by the pupil–teacher ratio, length of term, and teacher wage. ► I find that increasing school quality increases the health return to education. ► There is also a direct relationship between school quality and overall mortality rates. JEL classification Keywords Educational economics; Rate of return Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.
Flash spécial : Le rapport Fourgous pour faire entrer l'Ecole dans son siècle Remis le 15 février, le rapport Fourgous est à la fois un plaidoyer pour l'intégration des TICE dans l'enseignement et un programme de 70 mesures pour faire basculer l'Ecole dans l'ère numérique. "Le numérique représente une vraie chance pour l’école. Donnons-nous les moyens de réussir". Député des Yvelines, Jean-Michel Fourgous avait reçu fin août 2009 du premier ministre une mission " de réflexion et de propositions pour la promotion des TIC dans l'enseignement scolaire". Le retard français. Mais il y a pire encore : le système éducatif français est plus inégalitaire; il fabrique aussi davantage d'élèves manquant de confiance en soi et malheureux à l'Ecole. " L'école est aujourd’hui trop déconnectée de la société. "L'arrivée des Tic dans la société requiert de l'école qu'elle forme des jeunes dotés de compétences et d'aptitudes nouvelles". L'efficacité des TICE. Des TICE pour changer l'Ecole. Mais tout cela nécessite de la formation. 70 mesures. Le rapport Fourgous Les 70 mesures
Will Dropouts Save America? Michael Ellsberg is the author of “The Education of Millionaires: It’s Not What You Think and It’s Not Too Late.” I TYPED these words on a computer designed by Apple, co-founded by the college dropout Steve Jobs. The program I used to write it was created by Microsoft, started by the college dropouts Bill Gates and Paul Allen. And as soon as it is published, I will share it with my friends via Twitter, co-founded by the college dropouts Jack Dorsey and Evan Williams and Biz Stone, and Facebook — invented, among others, by the college dropouts Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz, and nurtured by the degreeless Sean Parker. American academia is good at producing writers, literary critics and historians. It is also good at producing professionals with degrees. In a recent speech promoting a jobs bill, President Obama told Congress, “Everyone here knows that small businesses are where most new jobs begin.” Close, but not quite. Start-ups are a creative endeavor by definition.
Insights From the 21st Century Talent Sessions Ashoka Eight Reasons Startup Incubators Are Better Than Business School Let’s get this straight: If you want to work at Goldman Sachs, McKinsey or General Electric GE +0.00%, an MBA is a handy scrap of paper. But if you’d prefer to bypass the corporate ladder and actually build something of your own, spending upwards of $140,000 and two years without pay is just about the worst way to go about it. Because looming outside those classroom walls is a creature far less merciful than any b-school professor: the market. Customers, you may be surprised to find, don’t give a damn about your degree—and the market will fire you faster than any ungrateful boss. Want to take the plunge but need a bit of guidance and support? Business incubators have been around since the 1950s. Now a new breed of incubator, catering mainly to technology types, is springing up all over the country. Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator, is the father of all startup incubators. Like top business schools, startup incubators are particular about whom they let in.