Science professors around the country are calling for changing the method of teaching introductory science classes.
Robert Beicher, a physics professor at North Carolina State University, said the classes need to change to be more appealing to students.
Beicher and a team of other science professors from various universities researched the current techniques of teaching introductory science classes and found many of these techniques are outdated and no longer keep students interested.
Beicher and his colleagues’ findings are published in the article “Scientific Teaching” in the April 23 edition of “Science.”
In the paper, they say the implementation of new techniques of learning, such as question-based and problem-solving discussions, can help student interest and involvement.
This active learning would have science students “develop hypotheses, design and conduct experiments, collect and interpret data, and write about the results,” the researchers explain in their paper.
Their findings call for administrators at research universities to take an active role in carrying out these new teaching methods for science major and non-science major classes.
Beicher and others also called for the use of rewards for faculty who implement these new teaching methods.
John Hopkins, a University chemistry professor, teaches introductory classes and said in addition to traditional lecture techniques, the department has began shifting to a more electronic teaching method.
Hopkins said he uses the Internet for homework and assistance.
“We have an online tutor and video explanations showing how to do the work,” Hopkins said.
He also said the chemistry department is looking into the use of electronic devices in the classroom for the purpose of classroom interaction. He said the electronics would help to get students more involved and interested in the classes than if traditional lectures were the lone teaching method.
Other sciences use the Internet and electronics in their teaching methods. Introductory physics classes use online homework Web sites. Biology classes taught in the 1,000-seat classroom of the Cox Communication Academic Center for Student Athletes use hand-held remotes for quizzes.
University students agree with Beicher’s findings, saying introductory science classes could improve with changes in the teaching method.
James Goeders, a chemistry junior, said the classes could create more interest by having the professors visually showing what they teach.
“If the teachers could bring some of the lab stuff into class and show examples of some of these reactions, that could be interesting,” Goeders said. “Stuff like that would probably help the classes for non-science majors.”
Goeders said with the class sizes increasing and the number of class sections diminishing, the teachers’ originality also diminishes.
“They have to teach the material, and with classes getting bigger and bigger, the teachers get more and more generic with their techniques because with large classes, it’s harder to do interesting examples,” Goeders said.
Hopkins, however, said increasing class size in introductory classes is not a big issue because these classes normally have a large class size. He said the increasing number of students will not take away from the professors’ teaching methods.
Other students agree science classes lack original and interesting teaching methods.
Grant Herrin, a biology sophomore, said much of the material is repeated in different classes, boring students who have previously learned the material.
Herrin also said the time used in repeating the subject matter could be used to convey more interesting and unique ideas.
Goeders said he believes that if introductory classes were changed, students would have a better appreciation for science.
“Those of us who are in it for the career already are interested in science, but people who are only in it for the gen-ed requirements really could see how interesting and fun science can be,” Goeders said.