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many interesting questions on the teaching of physics. This article was posted to an
educational website with the goal of educational reform. Denis Rancourt was a professor
at the University of Ottawa where he taught introductory physics. He grew steadily
frustrated at the lack of understanding the students showed on his final exams, he would
pour countless hours into forming a set of lesson plans that would get the students to
finally understand by using activities, demonstrations, and explanations.
In his 21st year of teaching the material he decided that students dont learn
physics by him teaching it so he had the students led the discussion every class. The
students would come in with questions and the class would discuss what they thought
was the cause of these phenomenon. Mr. Rancourt was however fired a few years later
for his radical style of teaching even though the students did much better on his final
exams that year.
How can I apply this to my unit? Although I am not teaching an introductory
physics course, my unit is more focused, I think there are some valuable takeaways. I will
not take as radical an approach as Denis Rancourt did but I can use pieces of it. I love his
suggestion of having the students lead the learning and discussion. This allows the
students to talk about what they are interested in and work at explaining the phenomenon.
I will take a day during my unit to have students ask about examples of Force and
Motion that they have seen in their lives and discuss them. The students have already
shown that they are immensely curious on these topics. My previous discussions with the
students on similar material brought up five or six questions that I didnt have time to
answer then but would be valuable to delve a little deeper into. A discussion period with
student led questions will keep the students interested, show them the material is fun and
promote learning. Mr. Rancourt recalls looking at the final exams and thinking, I had a
sense that the students had understood things, could explain them, and owned their
knowledge. I hope my students get a similar feel even it is only for a day.
students will not be graded on how well they do on each others quizzes but how they
created their own quiz. This will require them to think over the content and taking the
other students quizzes will further put the information in their long term memory from
their active working memory. Finally this will give me an informal assessment of how
well the students understand the content. This idea was inspired by the article and
Professor Keeley.
activities as much as possible for example the lessons Newtons 3rd Law and Masses
Influence on Force incorporate activites.
References
Gormally, C., Brickman, P., & Lutz, M. (2012). Developing a Test of Scientific Literacy
Skills (TOSLS): Measuring Undergraduates' Evaluation of Scientific Information
and Arguments. Cell Biology Education, 364-377. Retrieved April 19, 2015, from
http://www.lifescied.org/content/11/4/364.abstract
Mittelbach, M. (2014, October 13). Force and Motion - KIDS DISCOVER. Retrieved
April 8, 2015, from http://www.kidsdiscover.com/spotlight/force-motion-kids/
Rancourt, D. (2013). How to Not Teach Physics. Dissent Voice. Retrieved April 7, 2015,
from http://dissidentvoice.org/2013/01/how-to-not-teach-physics/