Students Remember What They Do

Abstract

Team Building—Problem Solving by Martin Bartholow, p 599. The Journal enables us to share many innovative ideas. For example, the 2005 Pimentel Award address by James Spencer (p 528) describes the college environment, yet Spencer’s “Great Truths” are nevertheless appropriate in a high school setting. Great Truth #3 (p 532), “Telling is not teaching. I cannot transfer an idea intact from my head to the head of a learner.” is familiar to many teachers. Intuitively we know that we must engage learners—how to engage them is always the big question. There is general agreement that understanding is constructed dynamically and is facilitated by using active modes of learning. Spencer describes POGIL (Process-Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning), which provides a model for structuring active learning in a classroom. There are also many ways to engage students outside the conventional classroom. Silva et al. (p 557) provide an example of using art to engage students—a beautiful exhibition of award-winning periodic tables created by students. Raddo (p 571) gives another example of engaging students through art: using comics to teach laboratory safety in an entertaining way. Gordin (p 561) cites evidence that students gifted in the arts (especially those with musical ability) excel in mathematics and physical sciences. He discusses the contributions of several chemists whose names may be familiar to you, including Borodin, Kekule, and Mendeleev. Borodin’s contributions to chemistry research may be less than has been supposed; however, in addition to his musical accomplishments, he was very active in paving the way for women to enter the sciences. Developing new and better collaborative tools appropriate for classroom teachers and students with multiple teaching and learning styles is a difficult assignment, but these articles demonstrate that the JCE can help.