I hadn’t thought about how students taking bio and chem or physics at the same time might be confused by the two types of nuclei!
Whenever I venture into experimental design and statistics in a bio class (esp ecology) I am reminded about how these disciplines use the word “population” differently. I may have once said “a population of populations”!
Regarding pre-reps and expected knowledge, one of the problems in STEM teaching is we often assume that knowledge learned in one context by a novice learner can easily transfer. I find it is very important to go over basic terms in Bio 2 (Evo/eco) even though students have learned about genes and alleles in Bio 1. The scales we’re thinking about are so different (DNA vs evolution of populations), even when we are talking about the same things. Plus the whole need for recall and spaced repetition.
+1 to "Plus the whole need for recall and spaced repetition"
I'd rather err on the side of repetition because it can help bring up to speed students who need it, and the students who don't - well, they can benefit from spaced repetition too!
This is part of why we have prerequisites! I don't disagree that one needs to be careful with definitions, but there needs to be some assumed knowledge as one goes along....no time to reteach everything previously "learned" for each course. This is one of the drawbacks to telling students that they have everything online so why memorize anything - a lecture is an example why, so that you can follow what you are being taught!
But at some point there are no prereqs, right? I mean intro level courses.
Also, unless defining some jargon requires a significant diversion, it's pretty easy to throw in a few words to help orient students the first time you use a word in a unit or course, even if they "should" know what it means.
Many of the intro level STEM courses in college are based on the students having taken a set of STEM courses in High School! Like algebra. Clearly it is not working since the biggest problem in passing general chemistry is algebra. Do I have time to teach what was supposed to be learned in 2-3 years of HS courses? Not really, though I do include some material and links to online help as well in my gen chem courses.
A simple definition is easy and I have no problem reminding the students. But when a student in PChem doesn't know what an atomic orbital is from gen chem it is a bigger issue. I believe there are cognative studies that show that if you have more than 4-5 new concepts at once to deal with you will have trouble understanding the material. That is why it is critical that students learn previous course material.
I think we are talking about slightly different things. I'm focusing mostly on jargon, which can be defined quickly with a few words, whereas your focus is more on bigger concepts and skills. I agree that it's hard to cover content that requires background knowledge and skills but that you don't have time to teach! It's always hard to find the balance between assumed background knowledge and spending time to bring them up to speed.
Thanks, Jayme - good topic. A beef I have is with acronyms - every discipline, profession and business has them and some more than others. Often used sans definition. Although I believe your audience is familiar with "STEM", even that may need an initial explication. Brava to you for taking up physics! An area where lots is going on, so that it would be good for everyone to have some education. Cosmology/astrophysics - areas that are really leading to new discoveries about and deeper understanding of the universe(s?) on a fundamental level. Lifelong learning - the hallmark of a curious mind - a mind tuned to science. Feynman (one great physicst) wrote some wonder-full books - one about beineg a "curious fellow".
The irony of me talking about defining jargon and then not defining the "STEM" acronym in my post! Thanks for pointing that out. I assumed my audience knew what it meant, but that's not a fair assumption.
I hadn’t thought about how students taking bio and chem or physics at the same time might be confused by the two types of nuclei!
Whenever I venture into experimental design and statistics in a bio class (esp ecology) I am reminded about how these disciplines use the word “population” differently. I may have once said “a population of populations”!
Regarding pre-reps and expected knowledge, one of the problems in STEM teaching is we often assume that knowledge learned in one context by a novice learner can easily transfer. I find it is very important to go over basic terms in Bio 2 (Evo/eco) even though students have learned about genes and alleles in Bio 1. The scales we’re thinking about are so different (DNA vs evolution of populations), even when we are talking about the same things. Plus the whole need for recall and spaced repetition.
+1 to "Plus the whole need for recall and spaced repetition"
I'd rather err on the side of repetition because it can help bring up to speed students who need it, and the students who don't - well, they can benefit from spaced repetition too!
This is part of why we have prerequisites! I don't disagree that one needs to be careful with definitions, but there needs to be some assumed knowledge as one goes along....no time to reteach everything previously "learned" for each course. This is one of the drawbacks to telling students that they have everything online so why memorize anything - a lecture is an example why, so that you can follow what you are being taught!
But at some point there are no prereqs, right? I mean intro level courses.
Also, unless defining some jargon requires a significant diversion, it's pretty easy to throw in a few words to help orient students the first time you use a word in a unit or course, even if they "should" know what it means.
Many of the intro level STEM courses in college are based on the students having taken a set of STEM courses in High School! Like algebra. Clearly it is not working since the biggest problem in passing general chemistry is algebra. Do I have time to teach what was supposed to be learned in 2-3 years of HS courses? Not really, though I do include some material and links to online help as well in my gen chem courses.
A simple definition is easy and I have no problem reminding the students. But when a student in PChem doesn't know what an atomic orbital is from gen chem it is a bigger issue. I believe there are cognative studies that show that if you have more than 4-5 new concepts at once to deal with you will have trouble understanding the material. That is why it is critical that students learn previous course material.
I think we are talking about slightly different things. I'm focusing mostly on jargon, which can be defined quickly with a few words, whereas your focus is more on bigger concepts and skills. I agree that it's hard to cover content that requires background knowledge and skills but that you don't have time to teach! It's always hard to find the balance between assumed background knowledge and spending time to bring them up to speed.
Fair enough.
Thanks, Jayme - good topic. A beef I have is with acronyms - every discipline, profession and business has them and some more than others. Often used sans definition. Although I believe your audience is familiar with "STEM", even that may need an initial explication. Brava to you for taking up physics! An area where lots is going on, so that it would be good for everyone to have some education. Cosmology/astrophysics - areas that are really leading to new discoveries about and deeper understanding of the universe(s?) on a fundamental level. Lifelong learning - the hallmark of a curious mind - a mind tuned to science. Feynman (one great physicst) wrote some wonder-full books - one about beineg a "curious fellow".
The irony of me talking about defining jargon and then not defining the "STEM" acronym in my post! Thanks for pointing that out. I assumed my audience knew what it meant, but that's not a fair assumption.