Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Author(s): Jo Handelsman, Diane Ebert-May, Robert Beichner, Peter Bruns, Amy Chang,
Robert DeHaan, Jim Gentile, Sarah Lauffer, James Stewart, Shirley M. Tilghman, William B.
Wood
Source: Science, New Series, Vol. 304, No. 5670 (Apr. 23, 2004), pp. 521-522
Published by: American Association for the Advancement of Science
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3836701
Accessed: 01/09/2010 15:24
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=aaas.
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
American Association for the Advancement of Science is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and
extend access to Science.
http://www.jstor.org
| | | | course serves science ma-
POLICY
FORUM
ED U C AT I O N
widerangeof institutionsdemonstratedbetter
problem-sollring ability,conceptualunder-
Scientific Teaching standing,and successin subsequentcourses
comparedwith studentswho had learnedin
Jo Handelsman,l* Diane Ebert-May,2Robert Beichner,3 Peter Bruns,4 traditional,
passiveformats(3).
Amy Chang,5 Robert DeHaan,6 t Jim Gentile,7 Sarah Lauffer, These results are neither isolated nor
James Stewart,8 Shirley M.Tilghman,9 William B.Wood10 discipline-specific.At the University of
Oregon, Udovic showed dramaticdiffer-
SincepublicationoftheAAAS 1989re- do scientificteaching,as we do with sup- ences betweenstudentstaughtbiology in a
port "Sciencefor all Americans"(l), portingonlinematerial(SOM)(3) andtable traditionallectureandthose taught"Work-
commissions, panels, and working (see page 522). Wealso presentrecommen- shop Biology,"a series of active, inquiry-
groupshave agreedthatreformin science dationsfor movingthe revolutionforward. based learningmodules(6). Similarlyim-
educationshouldbe foundedon "scientific pressiveresultswereachievedby Wrightin
teaching,"in whichteachingis approached Implementing Change in Lectures a comparisonof activeandpassivelearning
withthe samerigoras scienceat its best(2). Activeparticipation in lecturesanddiscovery-strategiesin chemistry (7). Others have
Scientificteachinginvolvesactivelearning basedlaboratories helpsstudentsdevelopthe taught cross-disciplinaryproblem-based
strategiesto engagestudentsin the process habitsof mindthatdrivescience.However, coursesthatintegrateacrossscientificdis-
of science and teachingmethodsthathave mostintroductory coursesrelyon "transmis- ciplines, such as Trempy's,"The World
been systematicallytested and shown to sion-of-information"lectures _
Accordingto Microbes" ,
at
reachdiversestudents(3). and "cookbook" laboratory ex- _ 9 - i Oregon State University,
Giventhe widespreadagreement,it may ercises techniquesthatarenot _ l _ > which integrates science
seem surprisingthat change has not pro- highlyeffectivein fosteringcon- l_ |1 | 1 > math,andengineering. The
gressedrapidlynor been drivenby the re- ceptualunderstanding or scien- _
search universitiesas a collective force. tific reasoning.Thereis mount-
Instead3reformhasbeeninitiatedby a fewpi- ingevidencethatsupplementing
oneers,whilemanyotherscientistshaveac- or replacinglectureswithactive _j
tively resistedchangingtheir teaching.So learningstrategiesandengaging
why do outstandingscientistswho demand studentsin discoveryandscien-
rigorousproof for scientific assertionsin tific processimproveslearningand knowl-
theirresearchcontinueto use and,indeedde- edgeretention(3).
fendonthebasisofthe intuitionalone,teach- Introductory classesoftenhavehigh en-
ing methodsthatarenot the most effective? rollments, frequently approaching 1000
Manyscientistsarestillunawareof the data studentsin biology courses.This need not
and analysesthatdemonstrate the effiective- be an impedimentto scientific teaching.
ness of active learningtechniques.Others Manyexercisesthatdepartfromtraditional
maydistrustthe databecausetheysee scien- methodsare now readilyaccessibleon the
tistswho haveflourishedin the currentedu- Web,whichmakesit unnecessaryforteach- A physics classroom at North CarolinaState
cationalsystem.Still othersfeel intimidated ers to develop and test their own (3). Universityarrangedfor traditionallectures(in-
by the challengeof learningnew teaching Quantitative assessmentindicatesthatthese set) and redesignedfor groupproblem-solving
methodsor may fear that identiElcation as interactiveapproachesto lecturingsignifi- in the SCALE-UP program.
teacherswill reducetheircredibilityas re- cantlyenhancelearning,andalthoughtime
searchers(3). allocated to inquiry-basedactivities re- jors and nonmajors,and outcome assess-
This Policy Forumis needed because duces coverageof specific content,it does ments indicatehigh contentretentionand
most scientistsdon'treadreportsbut they not reduceknowledgeacquisitionas meas- studentsatisfaction(8).
do readScience.In addition,reportsgener- uredby standardized exams(4).
ally do not offera guideto learninghow to Faculty are also using computersys- Students as Scientists
tems to engage students,assess learning, Scientistsof all disciplineshave developed
1HowardHughes MedicalInstituteProfessor,Department and shapeteaching.Studentscan be asked inquiry-basedlabs that requirestudentsto
of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin-Madison; to readand solve problemson a Web site, develophypotheses,designandconductex-
2Department of Plant Biology, Michigan State and their answerscan be analyzedbefore periments,collect and interpretdata, and
University; 3Department of Physics, North Carolina
State University; 4Howard Hughes Medical Institute;
class to guide the designof lectures(3). writeabouttheirresults(9). Manyof these
5AmericanSociety for Microbiology;6National Research Somescientistshavereplacedlecturesal- involve simple, inexpensivematerialscon-
Council; 7Dean of Natural Sciences, Hope College; mostentirely.Laws'scourse"Calculus-Based figuredso that they invite studentsto ask
8Department of Curriculumand Instruction,University Physics Without Lectures"at Dickinson theirown questions.In additionto labsthat
of Wisconsin-Madison; 9President, Princeton Uni-
versity; °Department of Molecular Cellular, and
University (5) and Beichner's program, have alreadybeen tested in the classroom,
Developmental Biology, University of Colorado at SCALE-UP,at North CarolinaState Uni- resourcesareavailableto helpteacherscon-
Boulder. For complete addresses, see SOM. versity(see figure,thispage)relyon a prob- vert cookbook labs into open-endedsin-
*To whom correspondence should be addressed.
lem-basedformatin whichstudentsworkcol- qliiry-basedlabs (3). Some schoolsprovide
E-mail:joh@plantpath.wisc.edu. laborativelyto makeobservations andto ana- introductory-level
studentswiththeopportu-
tPresent address: Division of Educational Studies, lyze experimentalresults. Students who nityto conductoriginalresearchin a profes-
Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA. learnedphysicsin theSCALE-UPformatata sor'sresearchlabratherthantakea tradition-