Blog Post #14

For this blog I read Pseudoteaching: MIT Physics. The term pseudoteaching means teaching that looks good but doesn't really teach the students anything. Professor Lewin at MIT is a physics teacher. In the post was a video that showed a short clip of one lecture and he was very energetic and you could tell that he really loved what he was teaching. It was great to see so much excitement in the eyes of the professor because you know you are getting his best every time he is speaking. But just because he is a great lecturer doesn't mean that his students were learning anything. His class attendance and passing rate dropped as the class progressed through the semester. He learned that in order for his students to learn that they needed some interaction with the lesson he was trying to teach. After realizing this he broke his students up into small groups and let them talk and ask questions among themselves and things got better for them.

 I think that it doesn't have to be rocket science to get your students interactive in class. The one way that I believe that students can learn is by getting them involved in the classroom. If we just sit there and lecture our tails off and don't let the students respond or ask questions then how can we tell if they are getting it. One goal I have is to always make my students interact during class so I know they are understanding what is going on. I am glad that I was able to read this post because it shows that even MIT professors have trouble with their students learning.