February 28, 2010 — Last week’s column dealt with focusing on student involvement in learning as yielding more results than having this responsibility rest on the shoulders of the teachers.

When teachers are regarded as the driving force in learning, then the teacher is made the scapegoat if the students don’t learn much. This outlook must be abandoned if education in this country is to improve.

U.S. politics is already in rigor mortis due to the “blame game,” and it would be absurd to extend this type of non-thinking to education.

One approach to helping students understand their role in their own learning is to use a checklist on tests  to find out what preparation they have done on their own. This approach is being adopted in many hospitals in this country due to a gifted surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital near Boston with his book  “The Check List Manifesto.”

Prior to each operation, the surgery staff goes through a checklist of all the procedures they are to have done, all the equipment that is available in the operating room, etc.

In education, at the start of each test, there would be a checklist at the top of the test, asking the students to check off their test preparation such as time spent studying their class notes, reading the chapters of text covered on the test, etc.

If the students see this list on each test, they will eventually realize that what preparation they bring to the test is more important than the wording on the test and questions not having the exact words as their class notes.

In some classes, diagnostic tests are given at the outset to identify student ability in reading, listening, writing, quantitative thinking, drawing conclusions, applying rules, etc.

This often is termed “identifying the student learning style.”

Suppose a class is analyzed and each student learns early in the term what they are relatively strong in, average and relatively weak in. Should the teacher engage in a multitude of teaching approaches so all the student are reached? 

Once again, it’s putting the cart before the horse, where the burden is on the teacher to promote student learning. In most jobs, reading (manuals, articles about new approaches), listening (to supervisors, clients, customers), writing (reports), scrutinizing numerical data (looking over tables of expenditures and receipts), drawing conclusions (what approaches work, don’t work) and applying (principles and objectives) are important.

So courses should encourage students to improve the areas they are weak in, rather than letting them focus on their strengths and stay in their comfort zone.

Another issue in learning is keeping a balance between reading and experiencing. Most learning experts cite research that experiencing is the most important way for most students to learn.

These spokesmen often argue for learning methods that they themselves didn’t use for their own undergraduate education.

There is often ridicule of textbook learning and accusations that students just memorize facts and not learn to think on their own.

To me, both reading and experiencing are needed, provided there is equipment and time available for lab type learning. But reading is an essential skill  that will benefit individuals long after they have graduated or ceased their formal education.

The past emphasis on lifelong learning has been displaced  by much hype of technology in instruction, including the use of “clickers” and twittering on cell phones in the classroom.

I feel that many old-fashioned techniques still have a place in learning, especially decision making and problem solving.

 Exercises in these areas will be likely be more helpful in life after school than the latest technological gadget or engaging simulation.

Recent  surveys report that the average  teen in America is involved in electronic media (iPods, YouTube, Facebook, DVD’s, video games, television) for over seven hours a day.

This doesn’t include talking and texting on cell phones (add another hour). So when teens are given the choice of how to spend their time, they prefer the electronic experience.

Another survey reports that young adults spend an average of 20 minutes a day in leisure reading. So as educators, we should emphasize reading to offset the time students consume with electronic media.

The moon is full tonight, appearing in the star group Leo.

On Tuesday, the moon will appear to the right of the planet Saturn.

By the coming weekend, the moon will have slipped out of the evening sky.

There are four bright points in the current evening sky (look around 9 p.m.). Nearly overhead is the bright golden star Capella. In the south is Sirius, the night’s brightest star.

 In the southeast is the planet Mars, shining steadily in the star group Cancer. Low in the East is the planet Saturn.

Today are the last showings of “Quick Intro to the Universe” with free public showings at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. in Tawes 302  at the Frostburg State Planetarium. Tawes Hall is an older building that faces the Compton Science Center.

After our 45-minute program, visitors are invited to tour our Science Discovery Center where there is a great collection of mammals from five continents.

Call (301) 687-7799 to request a free Planetarium bookmark showing parking, Tawes Hall and the Compton Science Discovery Center.



Bob Doyle invites any readers comments and questions. E-mail him at rdoyle@frostburg.edu . He is available as a speaker on his column topics.