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I would to see this approach applied more in the sciences as well. I my college syntax (linguistics) class, most of the teaching was done by the teacher giving

I would to see this approach applied more in the sciences as well. I my college syntax (linguistics) class, most of the teaching was done by the teacher giving us a (carefully curated) set of data to explain as homework. Class time was spent making sure everyone got to the same answer and understood the arguments behind it. When there are multiple reasonable answers, they also made sure that students understand the other ones and why we rejected them (sometimes the reason is as simple as 'we need to pick an answer, lets just vote'; other times it is 'both are reasonable explanations, the field went with B, read Chomsky 1987 if you want to know why.'). We would then generally talk about problems we still have (especially if the data was English, and students could come up with new data that didn't work as nicely).

pmoriarty 9y ago
"Class time was spent making sure everyone got to the same answer and understood the arguments behind it." How many students were in your class? With the typical undergraduate class sizes that I've TA'ed at (about 30 students or so), there's just not enough time during the class to go over everything with each person individually and explain everything to them if they don't get it. Even if there was time, if someone is slow the rest of the class will be bored to death waiting for you to explain something to them (possibly over and over until they get it). Some of the more advanced students will be bored by any explanation, while the most detailed explanations with many examples are necessary for other students. There are office hours and lab time, and some students make the most of that, but some don't. I actually spent a lot of my time helping out students who were lagging behind and needed a lot of attention, and wound up kind of neglecting the talented ones who didn't need any help, but who I think would have gotten more out of the class if we were able to engage them more, challenge them more, and cater to their interests more rather than trying to cater to the lowest common denominator. I'm not sure what the right answer here is in classes where students vary widely in skills, interests, and abilities.
- gizmo686 9y ago
  25. It also does not typically require much individual attention; generally presenting a cleaned up version of the arguement is enough. If multiple students have a problem, they tend to have the same problem, so the work scales sublinearly. Of course, larger class sizes will always make teaching more difficult.

pmoriarty 9y ago

"Class time was spent making sure everyone got to the same answer and understood the arguments behind it." How many students were in your class? With the typical undergraduate class sizes that I've TA'ed at (about 30 students or so), there's just not enough time during the class to go over everything with each person individually and explain everything to them if they don't get it. Even if there was time, if someone is slow the rest of the class will be bored to death waiting for you to explain something to them (possibly over and over until they get it). Some of the more advanced students will be bored by any explanation, while the most detailed explanations with many examples are necessary for other students. There are office hours and lab time, and some students make the most of that, but some don't. I actually spent a lot of my time helping out students who were lagging behind and needed a lot of attention, and wound up kind of neglecting the talented ones who didn't need any help, but who I think would have gotten more out of the class if we were able to engage them more, challenge them more, and cater to their interests more rather than trying to cater to the lowest common denominator. I'm not sure what the right answer here is in classes where students vary widely in skills, interests, and abilities.

gizmo686 9y ago
25. It also does not typically require much individual attention; generally presenting a cleaned up version of the arguement is enough. If multiple students have a problem, they tend to have the same problem, so the work scales sublinearly. Of course, larger class sizes will always make teaching more difficult.