Dr. Carl Wieman is a Stanford professor and a Nobel Prize winner, and he’s also done important work over the years trying to shake up the antiquated lecture style of so many college courses. Much of that work is also applicable to K-12 settings. He also helped establish PhET Interactive Simulations, which are well-known among science teachers.
You can see a guest piece he wrote a few years ago for my Education Week Teacher column, A Nobel Laureate Writes About Becoming A “Science Coach.”
He just was awarded the 2020 Yidan Prize for education research, which is the most financially generous education award in the world – $4 million!
His work on teaching has been focused on promoting “active learning.” He’s got his particular step-by-step strategy to use that in the “lecture hall,” but generally that concept means what most of us think it does – interactive lessons including small group activities that are different from the passivity of listening to a lecture for an hour. He also includes and credits the work of Professor Eric Mazur in this area (see “Twilight Of The Lecture”).
Sprouts just published this engaging video animation laying out Dr. Wieman’s teaching and learning strategy, which also discusses Professor Mazur’s research.
You can find a whole lot more about active learning at The Best Research Demonstrating That Lectures Are Not The Best Instructional Strategy.
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