[Net-Gold] Physics Education Research Mentioned in Article About Obama Higher Ed Proposals

[David P. Dillard]

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Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 15:36:32 -0700
From: Richard Hake <rrh...@earthlink.net>
Reply-To: Net-...@yahoogroups.com
To: AER...@listserv.aera.net
Cc: Net-...@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Net-Gold] Physics Education Research Mentioned in Article About Obama
Higher Ed Proposals


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ABSTRACT: PhysLrnR's Bill Goffe, in his post "Re: PER Mentioned in
Article About Obama Higher Ed Proposals" pointed to the "Chronicle of
Higher Education" article "4 Key Ideas in Obama's Plan to Control
College Costs Bear Familiar Fingerprints" [Berrett et al. (2013)] at
<http://bit.ly/18dhj1F>. Therein Carl Wieman, Eric Mazur, and Richard
Hake are mentioned. In my opinion:

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1. Berrett et al.'s claims that (a) Wieman and Mazur, are proponents
of the "flipped classroom," and (b) some of the earliest and
most-cited research on the flipped classroom was conducted by R.R.
Hake (1998a) - see "Interactive-engagement vs traditional methods: A
six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory
physics courses" at <http://bit.ly/9484DG>; rely on an overly broad
interpretation of the "flipped classroom" to mean "students
participate actively during class instead of listening passively."

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2. Both claims "a" and "b" above are misleading to those who
entertain the usual meaning of "flipped classroom," succinctly set
forth by Andrea Zellner (2012) in "Flipping out? What you need to
know about the Flipped Classroom" at <http://bit.ly/14vMuHP>. She
wrote (my CAPS): "The flipped classroom flips this [traditional
passive-student lecture model] on its head: through lecture capture
software, LECTURES CAN BE CAPTURED ON VIDEO FOR STUDENTS TO WATCH AT
HOME, freeing up class time for hands-on learning activities and
discussion."

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If you reply to this long (21 kB) post please don't hit the reply
button, bane of discussion lists, unless you prune the copy of this
post that may appear in your reply down to a few relevant lines,
otherwise the entire already archived post may be needlessly resent
to subscribers.

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Alert economist Bill Goffe (2013) pointed to a "Chronicle of Higher
Education" report "4 Key Ideas in Obama's Plan to Control College
Costs Bear Familiar Fingerprints" [Berrett et. al. (2013)]. His post
initiated a thread "Re: PER Mentioned in Article About Obama Higher
Ed Proposals" which, on 27 August 2013 08:50-0700, had grown to 19
posts on the August PhysLrnR archives at <http://bit.ly/1dFKQXC>.

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[NOTE: To access the archives of PhysLnR one needs to subscribe : -
( , but that takes only a few minutes by clicking on
<http://bit.ly/nG318r> and then clicking on "Join or Leave
PHYSLRNR-LIST." If you're busy, then subscribe using the "NOMAIL"
option under "Miscellaneous." Then, as a subscriber, you may access
the archives and/or post messages at any time, while receiving NO
MAIL from the list! To see a list of the 19 posts on "PER Mentioned
in Article. . . ." click on: (a) "Subject" in the top heading of the
August archives, then (b) "Show Table of Contents" under "Options"].

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Goffe wrote "Carl Wieman, Eric Mazur, and Richard Hake are mentioned.
This is in the section titled 'Redesigned Courses'."

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In that section Berrett et al. (2013) claim that: (a) Wieman and
Mazur are proponents of the "flipped classroom," and (b) some of the
earliest and most-cited research on the flipped classroom was
conducted by R.R. Hake - see "Interactive-engagement vs traditional
methods: A six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for
introductory physics courses" [Hake (1998a)].

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BUT WAIT! What do Berrett et al. (2013) *mean* by the "flipped
classroom"? They wrote [my insert at ". . . . . [[insert]]. . . ."]:

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"Many redesigns make use of a constellation of practices called
'flipping' a course, which the president's proposal mentions. . . . .
. . [[see under "Promote Innovation and Competition" in WHPR
(2013)]]. . . . . . . . . . . At its most basic level, flipping
inverts the traditional lecture paradigm - see "How 'Flipping' the
Classroom Can Improve the Traditional Lecture" (Berrett, 2012) -
because students participate actively during class instead of
listening passively. Such an approach often requires students to
learn course content outside class. Professors use class time to
guide learning. Some of the concept's most notable proponents include
Eric Mazur, a physicist at Harvard University. . . . .[[see e.g.,
"Peer Instruction: Ten years of experience and results" (Crouch &
Mazur, 2001)] and "Confessions of a Converted Lecturer" [Mazur
(2009)]. . . . . . . , and Carl E. Wieman, a recipient of a Nobel
Prize in Physics who stepped down last year as a White House adviser.
. . . . .[[Berrett et al. reference "Crusader for Better Science
Teaching Finds Colleges Slow to Change" (Baskin, 2013), but a better
idea of Wieman's take on science education can be obtained by
scanning "Why Not Try a Scientific Approach to Science Education?"
(Wieman, 2007).]]. . . . . .

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The above broad interpretation of "flipped classroom" by Berrett et
al. (2013) to mean "students participate actively during class
instead of listening passively" is consistent with Berrett's (2012)
statement: "As its name suggests, flipping describes the inversion of
expectations in the traditional college lecture. It takes many forms,
including interactive engagement, just-in-time teaching (in which
students respond to Web-based questions before class, and the
professor uses this feedback to inform his or her teaching), and peer
instruction."

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But such inclusive interpretation of "flipped classroom" to mean
almost *any* active engagement pedagogy in the classroom is contrary
to the usual definition as pointed out in my posts "Flipping the
Classroom vs Traditional Lecture" (Hake, 2012a) and "Re: Khan Academy
on Sixty Minutes" (Hake, 2012b), and as succinctly set forth by
Andrea Zellner (2012) in "Flipping out? What you need to know about
the Flipped Classroom." Zellner wrote (my CAPS): "The traditional
model of the lecture and learning cycle has long been to deliver the
lecture during class and to send students home to do homework and
perhaps engage in a discussion or two afterwards. The flipped
classroom flips this model on its head: through lecture capture
software, LECTURES CAN BE CAPTURED ON VIDEO FOR STUDENTS TO WATCH AT
HOME, freeing up class time for hands-on learning activities and
discussion."

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[WHAT'S THIS? Watching video lectures instead of reading the
textbook? See the Samuel Johnson (via Boswell) in the signature quote
below.]

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As I indicate in my comment following the Chronicle report of Berrett
et al. (2013) at <http://bit.ly/18dhj1F>. [bracketed by lines "HHHHH.
. . . ."]:

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HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

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Under "REDIGNING COURSES," the authors wrote [my insert at ". . .
.[[insert]]. . . . "]; "Many redesigns make use of a constellation of
practices called 'flipping' a course, which the president's proposal
mentions. At its most basic level, flipping inverts the traditional
lecture paradigm because students participate actively during class
instead of listening passively. . . . Flipping courses, in contrast.
. . . . [[to MOOCs]]. . . ., enjoys more substantive empirical
support, especially in the sciences. Some of the earliest and
most-cited research. . . . .[[is "Interactive-engagement vs
traditional methods: A six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test
data for introductory physics courses" (Hake, 1998a) at
<http://bit.ly/9484DG> ]]. . . . "

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Thanks for the mention, but my research does *not* provide
substantive support for "flipping a course" *per se*, i.e. requiring
students to study the content to be covered in a class prior to the
class session. Instead it provides support for "interactive
engagement methods," defined as "those designed at least in part to
promote conceptual understanding through active engagement of
students in heads-on (always) and hands-on (usually) activities which
yield immediate feedback through discussion with peers and/or
instructors, all as judged by their literature descriptions."

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HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

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Regarding MOOCs, in my post "Is Higher Education Running AMOOC?"
[Hake (2013)] I wrote: "Despite the serious cracks detected in all
but one of Coursera's five pedagogical foundation stones, I don't
think Coursera is necessarily doomed to pedagogic collapse. Instead I
think there may actually be some hope IF its MOOCs are evaluated by
measurement of pre-to-post-course student learning gains using
Concept Inventories. If the physics education reform effort is any
guide, then (a) such assessment will demonstrate that MOOCs are
actually MOORFAPs (Massive Open Online Repetitions of FAiled
Pedagogy), and (b) there will be some incentive to transform MOOCs
into MOOLOs (Massive Open Online Learning Opportunities)."

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Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
Links to Articles: <http://bit.ly/a6M5y0>
Links to Socratic Dialogue Inducing (SDI) Labs: <http://bit.ly/9nGd3M>
Academia: <http://bit.ly/a8ixxm>
Blog: <http://bit.ly/9yGsXh>
GooglePlus: <http://bit.ly/KwZ6mE>
Google Scholar: <http://bit.ly/Wz2FP3>
Twitter: <http://bit.ly/juvd52>
Facebook: <http://on.fb.me/XI7EKm>
LinkedIn: <http://linkd.in/14uycpW>

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"People have nowadays . . . got a strange opinion that everything
should be taught by lectures. Now, I cannot see that lectures can do
so much good as reading the books from which the lectures are taken.
Lectures were once useful; but now, when we can all read, and books
are so numerous, lectures are unnecessary. "
- Samuel Johnson according to James Boswell (1791) [Samuel
Johnson doubtless rolls in his grave at the thought that in the 21st
Century *videos* are evidently replacing *reading*.]

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REFERENCES [URL's shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on 25
August 2013.]

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Baskin, P. 2013. "Crusader for Better Science Teaching Finds
Colleges Slow to Change," Chronicle of Higher Education, 17 June;
online to subscribers at <http://bit.ly/19G4ZKi>; online to those
seeking the information at <http://bit.ly/159VMf9> thanks to "A
Fundraisers Friend" and in accord with "fair use" of copyrighted
material as provided for in Sections 107 and 108 of the US Copyright
Law; see e.g., Cornell University Law School information for Sect.
107 at <http://bit.ly/eNseEp> and Sect. 108 at <http://bit.ly/qyWm2Y>.

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Berrett, D. 2012. "How 'Flipping' the Classroom Can Improve the
Traditional Lecture" Chronicle of Higher Education, 19 Feb; online to
subscribers at <http://bit.ly/xKYX8h>; online to those seeking the
information at <http://bit.ly/1ddii9Z> thanks to "Jeffrey Henriques"
of the Univ. of Wisconsin and in accord with "fair use" of
copyrighted material as provided for in Sections 107 and 108 of the
US Copyright Law; see e.g., Cornell University Law School information
for Sect. 107 at <http://bit.ly/eNseEp> and Sect. 108 at
<http://bit.ly/qyWm2Y>. In "Flipping the Classroom vs Traditional
Lecture" [Hake (2012a)] I give a condensed version of Berrett's
report, into which I have inserted some hot-linked academic
references. See also "Top Ed-Tech Trends of 2012: The Flipped
Classroom" [Waters (2012)].

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Berrett, D., G. Blumenstyk, S. Lipka, M. Parry, & B. Supiano. 2013.
"4 Key Ideas in Obama's Plan to Control College Costs Bear Familiar
Fingerprints," Chronicle of Higher Education, 23 Aug.; currently
online at <http://bit.ly/18dhj1F>. See also "Performance Funding Goes
Federal" [Fain (2012)]; and "FACT SHEET on the President's Plan to
Make College More Affordable: A Better Bargain for the Middle Class"
[WHPR (2013)].

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Boswell, J. 1791. "Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D,"online at
<http://bit.ly/qfDXPz>.

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Crouch, C.H. & E. Mazur. 2001. "Peer Instruction: Ten years of
experience and results," Am. J. Phys. 69(9): 970-977; online at
<http://bit.ly/ppm3Bm>.

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Fain, P. 2013. "Performance Funding Goes Federal," Inside Higher Ed,
23 August; online at <http://bit.ly/174EYpM>.

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Goffe, B. 2013. "PER Mentioned in Article About Obama Higher Ed
Proposals," online on the CLOSED! PhysLrnR archives at
<http://bit.ly/17VMsb0>. To access the archives of PhysLnR one needs
to subscribe : - ( , but that takes only a few minutes by clicking on
<http://bit.ly/nG318r> and then clicking on "Join or Leave
PHYSLRNR-LIST." If you're busy, then subscribe using the "NOMAIL"
option under "Miscellaneous." Then, as a subscriber, you may access
the archives and/or post messages at any time, while receiving NO
MAIL from the list!

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Hake, R.R. 1998a. "Interactive-engagement vs traditional methods: A
six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory
physics courses," Am. J. Phys. 66: 64-74; online as an 84 kB pdf at
<http://bit.ly/9484DG> . See also the crucial but generally ignored
companion paper Hake (1998b).

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Hake, R.R. 1998b. "Interactive-engagement methods in introductory
mechanics courses," online as a 108 kB pdf at
<http://bit.ly/aH2JQN>. A crucial companion paper to Hake (1998a).
Submitted on 6/19/98 to the "Physics Education Research Supplement"
(PERS) of the "American Journal of Physics," but rejected by its
editor on the grounds that the very transparent, well organized, and
crystal clear Physical-Review-type data tables were "impenetrable"!

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Hake, R.R. 2012a. "Flipping the Classroom vs Traditional Lecture,"
online at <http://bit.ly/wYdWIl>. Post of 24 Feb 2012 19:51:14-0800
to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post
were transmitted to several discussion lists and are also on my blog
"Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/y83WAz> with a provision for
comments.

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Hake, R.R. 2012b. "Re: Khan Academy on Sixty Minutes" on the OPEN!
AERA-L archives at <http://bit.ly/zsYxUk>. Post of 15 Mar 2012
10:59:14-0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the
complete post are being transmitted to several discussion lists and
are also on my blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/yapt2S> with a
provision for comments.

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Hake, R.R. 2013. "Is Higher Education Running AMOOC?" online on the
OPEN! Net-Gold archives at <http://yhoo.it/12nPMZB>. Post of 19 May
2013 18:47:06 -0700 to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to
the complete post are also on my blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at
<http://bit.ly/18YJjt9>.

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Mazur, E. 2009. "Confessions of a Converted Lecturer" talk at the
University of Maryland on 11 November 2009. That talk is on YouTube
at <http://bit.ly/dBYsXh>, and the abstract, slides, and references -
sometimes obscured in the YouTube talk - are at
<http://bit.ly/9qzDIq> as a 4 MB pdf. As of 27 August 2013 Eric's
talk had been viewed 97,330 times. In contrast, serious articles in
the education literature (or even posts such as this one) are often
read only by the author and a few cloistered specialists, creating
tsunamis in educational practice equivalent to those produced by a
pebble dropped into the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

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Watters, A. 2012. "Top Ed-Tech Trends of 2012: The Flipped
Classroom," Inside Higher Ed, 17 Dec.; online at
<http://bit.ly/1dJFvyt>.

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WHPR. 2013. "FACT SHEET on the President's Plan to Make College More
Affordable: A Better Bargain for the Middle Class," White House Press
Release, 22 August; online at <http://1.usa.gov/14ZMlJd>. Under
"Promote Innovation and Competition" appears the statement "A
rising tide of innovation has the potential to shake up the higher
education landscape. Promising approaches include three-year
accelerated degrees, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), and
'FLIPPED' OR 'HYBRID' CLASSROOMS WHERE STUDENTS WATCH LECTURES AT
HOME AND ONLINE AND FACULTY CHALLENGE THEM TO SOLVE PROBLEMS AND
DEEPEN THEIR KNOWLEDGE IN CLASS. . . . .[[My CAPS]]. . . .j Some of
these approaches are still being developed, and too few students are
seeing their benefits. The federal government can act as a catalyst
for innovation, spurring innovation in a way that drives down costs
while preserving quality."

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Wieman, C. 2007. "Why Not Try a Scientific Approach to Science
Education?" Change Magazine, September/October; online as a 804 kB
pdf at <http://bit.ly/anTMfF>. Note Wieman's Fig. 4 "Fractional
Improvement in FCI score."

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Zellner, A. 2012. "Flipping out? What you need to know about the
Flipped Classroom" Inside Higher Ed, 21 Feb; in Gradhacker, a Blog
from GradHacker and MATRIX: The Center for Humane Arts, Letters and
Social Sciences Online; online at <http://bit.ly/14vMuHP>. Zellner
wrote [my CAPS]: "The traditional model of the lecture and learning
cycle has long been to deliver the lecture during class and to send
students home to do homework and perhaps engage in a discussion or
two afterwards. The flipped classroom flips this model on its head:
through lecture capture software, LECTURES CAN BE CAPTURED ON VIDEO
FOR STUDENTS TO WATCH AT HOME, freeing up class time for hands-on
learning activities and discussion." See the Samuel Johnson (via
Boswell) signature quote above.


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