“Farewell, Lecture?” (Eric Mazur, Harvard University)
“Discussions of education are generally predicated on the assumption that we know what education is. I hope to convince you otherwise by recounting some of my own experiences. When I started teaching introductory physics to undergraduates at Harvard University, I never asked myself how I would educate my students. I did what my teachers had done–I lectured. I thought that was how one learns. Look around anywhere in the world and you’ll find lecture halls filled with students and, at the front, an instructor. This approach to education has not changed since before the Renaissance and the birth of scientific inquiry. Early in my career I received the first hints that something was wrong with teaching in this manner, but I had ignored it. Sometimes it’s hard to face reality.”
Listen to Eric Mazur’s entire article, “Farewell, Lecture?” (Science Magazine, 2 January 2009). Narrated by Samuel Smith, CTL.