SCIENCE SEMINAR
Learning Physics, Understanding Physics:
Making Sense of What We Learn, Creating the Sense of What We Teach
Robert Lacroix
Bishop's University
Friday, January 23, 2009
12:30 pm - 1:20 pm
NICOLLS 1
As a student, I had a lot to learn. I did not necessarily take the time to make sense of what I was learning. I relied on formulae to solve assignment problems in the hope that the exam problems would resemble the exercises. When I got a good mark, I believed that I had understood. There were countless occasions when I had insurmountable difficulties; I could not overcome them because I lacked a truly fundamental understanding of what I had “learned”. As a teacher, I was faced with teaching a lot of material and I relied on traditional lectures, hoping that enough students would understand. I also thought that the more topics that I covered, the greater would be the extent of what the students understood. On the exams, I thought that students having high scores (A or B), were capable of continuing their studies at a higher level, while the other students had not worked hard enough. These beliefs did not change until I became acquainted with pedagogical research. I then had a chance to reflect profoundly on the art of my teaching and on the ways in which students learn.
This talk is addressed to future teachers of physical sciences at the secondary, CEGEP, and university level. I want to provoke a little reflection on what we learn versus what we understand as students. And as a teacher, to allow reflection on how and what we teach. In this talk, we will investigate and answer challenging little questions in physics.
THIS TALK IS PRESENTED AT A VERY BASIC LEVEL AND IS INTENDED FOR UNIVERSITY OR CEGEP STUDENTS WHO HAVE COMPLETED AN INTRODUCTORY PHYSICS COURSE.
