Read the passage below and check your comprehension by answering the following questions. Then “submit” your work.
There is little doubt that technology is changing the nature of classroom lectures. Many instructors embrace new technologies to enhance their lectures—they might incorporate slideware presentations, offer audio or video clips, or use a computer to run a statistical analysis during class. But some professors suggest that the best use of technology might be to eliminate classroom lectures altogether.
Eric Mazur, a Harvard physics professor, believes that the traditional lecture format, in which teachers speak and students listen and take notes, is not the most effective method for teaching or the most efficient use of classroom time. Mazur was astounded after a colleague’s research showed that thousands of students who had completed the introductory physics course at universities around the country still did not have an accurate understanding of the nature of force (a fundamental concept for the discipline). He administered the test to his own students and found that they were no different. He began to try different methods for teaching the concept. Then, “I did something I had never done in my teaching career. . . . I said, ‘Why don’t you discuss it with each other?’” (Mazur, quoted in Lambert, 2012). He was shocked when students had figured it out after a scant three minutes of classroom chaos. Those who understood the concept were quickly able to defend their explanations of the concept, while those who had it wrong could not and, thus, students taught each other.
In what is now known as the “flipped classroom,” Mazur and other instructional pioneers require students to watch short prerecorded lectures online or find their own learning resources. That frees up in-person class time so students can work with each other and the professor on homework problems and collaborative activities. The idea is for students to “own” their education rather than just being passive recipients (Pathak, 2015).