Book,
They're not dumb, they're different: Stalking the second tier
Research Corporation, Tucson, AZ, (1990)
Abstract
Tobias's study asked post-undergraduate students with considerable high school preparation and at least one college calculus course to "seriously audit" a semester-long chemistry or calculus-based physics course. Students were asked to perform as well as they could and notice what made the course hard or obtuse for them or other students.
The students were turned off by the competitive, rather than cooperative, learning environment in these introductory courses. They were alienated by the emphasis on basic skill performance on tests rather than conceptual understanding. Seeing a professor spend ninety percent of class time working problem after problem did not help these students find a sense of continuity with the subject matter. One student wanted to learn about Ävogadro's insight" instead of being handed Avogadro's number.
Tobias is concerned that students who do not respond well to traditional methods of science teaching are the ones who might otherwise have stayed in the science pipeline. She states that a projected science shortfall will not be met by the traditional science cadre--students who know early on that no amount of bad teaching/ bad experiences will discourage them from science and math, students who make it through the "weeder" classes and are later regarded as the "cream that rose to the top" Tobias quotes Harry Ungar, who said, "There has to be room in science for people who did not ask for a chemistry set at age five."Tobias recommends:
* A less intense pace for classes.
* A reduction in the competitive pressure caused by curve grading.
* A student's motivation and interest should affect performance, not the opposite discouraging effect curve grading tends to inspire.
* Teachers such as Harvard's Dudley Herschbach are trying methods such as "resurrection points" instead of curve grading and emphasizing to students that it is more important to be ärdent" and "persistent" than "brilliant". His efforts have yielded record success in terms of students, enrolling, and completing the class and outperforming previous years' classes.
* The use of exit interviews when students do decide to leave a math/science class or major.
* This provides feedback to the department about potential problem areas.
* It gives the department a chance to redirect the student's science interest instead of letting the student give up science entirely.
* It gives the student a sense that his/her departure was not desired or unnoticed.
Jane Fraser, an associate professor at Ohio State University, agrees with Tobias's concerns; I find it very frustrating to be an engineering professor and know that many students are turned off in physics, math, and chemistry classes before I even get a chance to show them the neat stuff industrial engineers do. One approach is to put engineering earlier in the curriculum, but I really think we need to change the atmosphere in those early classes. A copy of They're Not Dumb, They're Different: Stalking the Second Tier, by Sheila Tobias, can be obtained from the Research Corporation, Book Department, 101 North Wilmost Road, Suite 250, Tucson, AZ 85711; phone: (602) 571-1111. The Research Corporation charges \$5.95 for the book, plus \$1.24 for shipping and handling. (Current as of spring 1995.)
