Enabling Student-Student Interaction in a Large Classroom Setting [visual notes] Alan Slavin, PhD Physics, 3M Fellow, Trent University
Physics
Image by giulia.forsythe
Thirty years of research into teaching in physics and other sciences shows that the traditional lecture is inferior to a student-student interaction approach in developing a conceptual and analytical understanding of course material.

[1] Summary of some of the research and discussion of two approaches.
[2] Peer Instruction (including the use of "clickers" for classroom voting) and
[3] Just-in-Time Teaching (through LMS pre-class quizzes) — that Trent University has been using for several years.

Slavin suggests clickers are successful pedagogically, cost effective, and more enjoyable for students and the instructor than the conventional lecture.

References Cited:
1. R. R. Hake, Am. J. Phys. 66, 64-74 (1998).
2. E. Mazur, Peer Instruction, Addison Wesley, 1997.
3. G. M. Novak, E. T. Patterson, A. D. Gavrin, and W. Christian, Just-In-Time Teaching, Addison Wesley, 1999.