Memorization of Understanding: Are we teaching the right thing?

Education is more than just transfer of information, yet that is what is mostly done in large introductory courses instructors present material (even though this material might be readily available in printed form), and for students the main purpose of lectures is to take down as many notes as they can. Few students have the ability, motivation, and discipline to synthesize all the information delivered to them. Yet synthesis is perhaps the most important and most elusive aspect of education. Instructors get frustrated because they don t know how to help their students grasp the material. The problem has a relatively simple solution: shift the focus in lectures from delivering information to synthesizing information. With examples from his own discipline (physics), Prof. Mazur will illustrate how he discovered rampant problems in his own lectures and how he has begun to remedy the problem. Some of these remedies are facilitated through the use of technology, such as the Internet, and a computer system that allows a real-time wireless interface to be maintained between the students and the professor during the lecture.