At some point in our lives, most of us have attended a school or university lecture. These learning sessions give us some insightful and valuable knowledge or can be something we yawn through, trying to keep awake. Whatever our experience, lectures have been and still are the most common teaching method in education. But will they exist in the future?
With the growth of the Internet and so much information at our fingertips, you may think there is no need to gather together at a fixed location holding a handful of textbooks. BBC journalist Matt Pickles says, “Research has shown that students remember as little as 10 percent of their lectures just days afterwards.”
Professor Carl Wieman, who campaigns against the traditional lecture, felt talking at students and expecting them to absorb knowledge was not that effective so he introduced “active learning” that encourages problem solving in small groups. He listens to them and guides their discussions. The result has improved exam results. Other new alternatives to the lecture have included peer-to-peer learning and project-based learning that enable students to link up and work cooperatively on projects such as building a computer game.
But new learning methods can come at a high financial cost compared to the relatively cheap way of being taught face to face by an academic. The real issue according to Professor Dan Butin, founding dean of the school of education and social policy at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, is that “Academics put thousands of hours of work into their books and much less time into thinking about the effectiveness of their teaching style.” But he says, “The lecture has survived because research, not teaching, determines the success of a university and its academics.”
So if research quality is a measure of a university’s success and money is tight, then the lecture could be here for a little longer.
【小题1】What may Matt Pickles agree with?| A．Students have a poor memory. |
| B．Students don’t work hard enough. |
| C．Lectures are not so effective as expected. |
| D．The Internet offers far more information than lectures. |
| A．Teaching projects. | B．Learning strategies. |
| C．Alternatives to lectures. | D．Ways of communication. |
| A．They promote active learning. | B．They call for the least memory work. |
| C．They determine the success of a university. | D．They contribute to academic achievements. |
| A．By analyzing data. | B．By listing opinions. |
| C．By making comparison. | D．By concluding general rules. |
