Are Classroom Lectures Still Being Heard?

Have you ever wondered why you can’t stay awake or pay attention for an hour and fifteen minutes when your professor is lecturing?

Maybe you didn’t get enough sleep, maybe the professor has a monotone voice, or maybe lectures are not as effective as they use to be.

“Human beings are and have evolved to learn through action,” said Dr. Michael Andreychik, a social and personality psychology professor here at Fairfield University.

But “the brain has not changed that much,” countered Dr. Linda Henkel a cognitive psychology professor.

Even though accessing information is no longer a problem, processing it and evaluating it is.

“Lectures are still necessary,” said Suleika Lopez ‘13. “Logical thinking sometimes needs to be explained and sometimes there’s no other way other was to do it.”

According to recent research, seven out of 10 students said that lectures are not effective because learning is not about memorizing information but actively understanding it.

“For some tests I just repeat information in my head until it’s memorized,” said Julie Colangelo, a pre-med student.

“I do most of the learning on my own because I can’t memorize everything I hear right then and there. I need time to let it soak up,” she said.

According to Joe Redish from the University of Maryland, “The lecture is one of the oldest forms of education there is.” He added that the word “lecture” comes from the Latin word meaning “to read.”

When Redish began teaching at the University of Maryland in 1970, he lectured because it was the way he was taught. After a few years he met with his mentor, a famous physicist named Lewis Elton, who asked him about his teaching methods.

Redish believed he was doing well, but only those “who do really well are motivated.”

Elton responded to Redish, saying, “They’re the ones who don’t really need you.”

Some claim that lecturing has never been an effective teaching technique, and now that information is everywhere, Redish said it’s a waste of time.

“Sometimes I find myself just rereading the chapters and trying to explain to myself what I just learned in class,” said Alexander Guevara ’13.

David Hestenes, a professor from Arizona State University, said, “Students have to be active in developing their knowledge. They can’t passively assimilate it.”

“And I maintain, I think all the evidence indicates that these 10 percent are the students that would learn it even without the instructor,” Hestenes continued. “They essentially learn it on their own.”

Redish is not the only professor to come across this problem.

Eric Mazur, a professor at Harvard University, spent a large portion of his class period reviewing fundamental concepts only to discover that around half of his class only got the questions correct.

After instructing them to discuss the questions among themselves, he saw that the entire class was dying to explain it to each other. This allowed the 50 percent of students who understood the material to explain it to the other half of the class.

Mazur explained these results. “Imagine two students sitting next to one another, Mary and John. Mary has the right answer because she understands it. John does not. Mary’s more likely, on average, to convince John than the other way around because she has the right reasoning,” said Mazur.

The irony behind this is that she has recently learned it and still has some difficulties understanding it, but Professor Mazur learned the idea such a long time ago that he can no longer understand why somebody would have difficulty grasping it.

Mazur says, “It becomes harder to teach because you’re unaware of the conceptual difficulties of a beginning learner.”

In the past, students were assigned reading materials before class so they could prepare. Most students didn’t read and decide that they will pay attention so they can figure out what is most important and take notes instead.

Mazur feels this is the problem, and he teaches his classes in a different way.

His approach is to assign the reading and expect the students to be familiar with the topics, so that he can discuss it with them and review what confused them.

To make sure that they read, he organizes questions they must answer before class. These questions ask about any concepts or ideas that they find confusing.

He begins class with a brief explanation, asks them to talk about it with a partner and then asks the question again. Then he repeats the process.

One value of this approach is that it can be done with hundreds of students and in many class settings, so small classes aren’t necessary to get students active and engaged.