Abstract
In spite of advances in physics pedagogy, the lecture is by far the most widely used format of instruction. We investigated students’ understanding and perceptions of the content delivered during a physics lecture. A group of experts (physics instructors) also participated in the study as a reference for the comparison. During the study, all participants responded to a written conceptual survey on sound propagation. Next, they looked for answers to the survey questions in a videotaped lecture by a nationally known teacher. As they viewed the lecture, they indicated instances, if any, in which the survey questions were answered during the lecture. They also wrote down (and if needed, later explained) the answer, which they perceived was given by the instructor in the video lecture. Students who participated in the study were enrolled in a conceptual physics course and had already covered the topic in class before the study. We discuss and compare students’ and experts’ responses to the survey questions before and after the lecture.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Cazden C. B. (1988) Clasroom Discourse: The Language of Teaching and Learning. Portsmouth, NH, Hainemann
Cooper P. J, Simonds C. J. (2003). Communication for the Classroom Teacher. Boston, MA, Allyn and Bacon
Exley, K. (2004). Giving a Lecture; From Presenting to Teaching (1 ed.): Routledge Falmer
Hake, R. R. (2002). Lessons from the physics education reform effort. Conservation Ecology 5(2):28; online at <http://www.consecol.org/vol25/iss22/art28>
Heritage J. (1984) Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology. Cambridge, UK, Polity Press
Hewitt, P. G. (1991). Vibrations and sound II. On Conceptual Physics Alive! [Video tape]: Addison-Wesley
Hewitt P. G. (1998). Conceptual Physics 8 Reading, MA, Addison-Wesley
Hrepic, Z. (2002). Identifying Students’ Mental Models of Sound Propagation. Unpublished Master’s thesis, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS
Hrepic, Z., Zollman, D., and Rebello, S. (2002). Identifying Students’ Models of Sound Propagation. Paper presented at the 2002 Physics Education Research Conference, Boise ID. Published in conference proceedings
Hrepic, Z., Zollman, D., and Rebello, S. (2005). Eliciting and Representing Hybrid Mental Models. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, April 4–7, Dallas, TX. Published in conference proceedings
Kvasz L. (1997). Why don’t they understand us? Science and Education 6:263–272
Mazur E. (1997). Peer Instruction: A User’s Manual. Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice Hall
Zollman D. (1996). Millikan lecture 1995: Do they just sit there? Reflections on helping students learn physics. American Journal of Physics, 64:114–119
Acknowledgements
This work was supported, in part, by the National Science Foundation under grant REC-0087788. We extend many thanks to Dr. Paul Hewitt for his kind participation in this research. His input was invaluable to the analysis of our data.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hrepic, Z., Zollman, D.A. & Sanjay Rebello, N. Comparing Students’ and Experts’ Understanding of the Content of a Lecture. J Sci Educ Technol 16, 213–224 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-007-9048-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10956-007-9048-4