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There was a time when many of us were
accustomed to sitting through lectures day after day, week after week, as
students in college and graduate school (but currently do not have the same
concentration span or patience). I
regarded the lecture as an (a)
opportunity to take notes; (b) derive a basic understanding of the material;
(c) obtain information for further processing. The full comprehension and
retention of facts required for the upcoming test was done at home or my dorm
room by reading and re-reading the notes (and highlighted textbook) or doing
problems in a notebook repetitively until memorized. Upon exiting the lecture
hall, I accumulated less than fifty percent of the knowledge and skills needed
to perform well on the subsequent assessment. I had mixed results with this routine in high school but
became quite good in college because grades were a premium, and the lecture (no matter how boring) was a gateway to
success.
Lectures, the most dominant educational feature
of the course, forced me to concentrate on the professors' stream of conscious
while writing. My concentration perked up when the lecturer said: "The
main point is" or "in summary". The limitation was that I did
not derive a deep understanding of the material at that moment but was content
to write furiously in the spiral notebook. The teacher was the lead education
agent and we scribbled sentences, attended to ideas, not fully comprehending
how the facts fit into the big picture with the expectation that we would do
more on our own. I was a grade conscious individual late in high school and
particularly in college and graduate school, motivated to succeed, and
therefore, not particularly concerned if the lecturer was engaging or even
humorous, as long as his comments were delivered in a somewhat coherent manner
for note-taking purposes. Though respected for their intellectualism I rarely
found my professors' lectures emotionally inspiring, but was driven by report
card grades, studying extensively before exams to maximize retention.
Many secondary-level students are not motivated
in the same manner because they often do not have long term goals or
expectations related to content area learning, the prevailing objective of
education. Just imagine how they feel sitting through multiple classes without
the possibility of participating (or using their iPhone to catch up on recent
messages and posts from around the world). They are content spending the
balance of their academic careers relatively inattentive, often quiet, bored,
and/or even disruptive.
That category of teacher-centered class comes
under the umbrella of what is termed a lecture, a class where the speaking is done exclusively by one
person in the front of a room. The audience listens and may even take notes but
does not participate in any manner nor interrupt the flow of talk. The lecture is common in college settings where the
instructor, often a doctorate in the subject, presents material to students who
sit in fixed seats attached to pull-over trays to take notes in a 'lecture'
hall.
If the definition is extended to middle and
high schools, the lecture entails a teacher
doing a significant amount of talking but with some modification. It has the
appearance of the diagram at the bottom of Appendix E. The smaller class size
in secondary schools compared to a college lecture allows for worksheets, quizzes, and discussions because they can be facilitated
in this setting. Many of us took classes in this configuration with some
variation because these were not lectures in the college lecture hall sense but were
presentations. The teacher delivered some content but set aside other
activities for the students at their seats such as worksheets, quizzes, or discussions. Too often it was a lesson
structured to minimize student interaction to maintain a quiet, focused
atmosphere, with the teacher as the center of attention.
This model is prevalent in many venues because
it was taught in university schools of education for decades as the most
straight-forward procedure with young people that had no teaching experience.
Moreover, their role was to perpetuate
the paradigm that the classroom was teacher controlled, along with nuances that
embellished this principle. 'Student assertiveness' was often associated
with discipline problems and disorganization. The best practice model
emphasized organizational facets of the lecture: clarity of presentation, classroom discipline, rhetorical
style, and school management. Fortunately, recent adaptations include the wave
of technology and probably significant doses of discussion, cooperative
learning, and projects.
It is the intent of these chapters to emphasize
the value of interpersonal activities that stress validation in the school
environment, particularly the classroom. In that context, brain research
reveals that cooperative learning stimulates cognition much better than extended lectures. The
face-to-face setting promotes
social interaction and is rewarding because the members reinforce one another
during exchanges, motivating students to concentrate and participate, setting
in motion the elaborate prefrontal cortex-midbrain interaction, secrete
dopamine, the neurotransmitter that drives the
individual to stay on task and achieve a reward.
Do
kindergarten teachers lecture? Other than a few brief directives, no, and that is
because young children do not have the auditory concentration span to listen to
their teacher for extended periods to facilitate content. In fact, the early
grades use many activity-based devices during the school day that are tactile
and visual: crafts, music, coloring, exercise, and games. Because of novelty, they concentrate on their teacher's presentation for a
few minutes. The teacher is an excellent and patient facilitator of the many activities
planned for the day, validating the children as they
perform tasks.
It is probably not until second grade, or
earlier in some instances, that the lecture is used more
extensively in the classroom, and in large part, because subject areas are stressed. Subjects require
specialization and the students move to different classrooms to be taught by a
content area specialist. Majors
in specific disciplines in college (science, history, English, art, world
language, and mathematics) are designated to teach these classes.
The lecture method I am
referring is different from the parochial-style college forum, but the
inclusion of one or more of these: worksheets, quizzes, videos, or teacher modulated discussions within
the classroom period. When structured meaningfully this combination pedagogy has a level of
novelty that can effectively
nurture assimilation of content for an entire classroom though there is a range
of attention amongst the pupils. Homework and class management
elements are included, too.
Teaching five or more classes a day can be a
demanding experience for any educator, though there might be instances when a
topic area requires an entire period of teacher talk. I do not believe that many educators in
secondary schools lecture the entire period
day after day, however. One colleague who taught in this manner confided that
he would be okay until November when he burned out and took a few sick days to
recover.
Limitations of the
lecture method.
o Attention to what is
being said decreases as the lecture proceeds. McKeachie, in his summary of decades of research in the college
setting, found that students retain 70% of the information in the first 10
minutes of a lecture; the retention is only 20% in the last 10 minutes.
Note-taking decreases during the lecture as well.1
o The lecture is suited for the
more motivated, intelligent, and auditory oriented individuals with the
students noticeably less attentive over time. This means that a substantial
number of students must use other means to achieve success in the course.2
o
The lecture focuses on lower
levels of cognition and learning because
it presents factual material and rarely allows students to analyze,
synthesize, or integrate the subject during that period.3
o The lecture is impersonal
because one person talks, and the audience does not engage in conversation.
There is virtually no validation of the individuals
in the audience and students are often powerless to serve as facilitators of the knowledge
flow either through questioning or analysis.4
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Though these are studies from college settings
where lectures prevail, the same limitations occur in secondary schools. The
college student often has no more than three lecture periods per day. The
middle or high school student, however, is in five or more classes. Even if the
amount of lecturing in this setting is less per period, the student
nevertheless experiences a considerable amount of one-way instruction for an
entire school day, week after week, for an entire school year. By minimizing
the social discourse, many adolescents find their educational experience
uninspiring, or even boring.
Lectures are an
effective means to communicate information when
o
A teacher wants to
clarify an issue, expand student knowledge beyond available resources, or
share a personal experience.5
o Content is not
available in written form or is too complicated or when the idea is a model
or procedure that you developed.
o
Teachers need to
communicate a large body of factual material to many students in a brief
period.5
o Introducing content
to students whose motivation or interest is
limited.
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Maintaining focus in a lecture-dominated school culture can be accomplished if students
are accustomed to frequent lectures and motivated to achieve high grades. The
mind can be disciplined to sustain concentration if the auditory sense is
exercised repeatedly, and many of us succeeded in such an educational
environment. For that reason, lectures
can be an effective means to transfer knowledge, particularly when well
organized and properly sequenced, generating an elevated level of audio
attention. Even with my desire to have more cooperative learning in classrooms, I
believe students must adapt to teacher
presentations and increase their auditory capacity and concentration span.
Effective lectures that
embrace the entire classroom
o Craft the content to
be coherent and unified.
o
If it is a content
presentation, students should be taking notes in a designated spiral notebook
or use an outline handout with space to write notes. This structures the
material and helps students perceive the relevance of the ideas to the
overall theme. However, note-taking is not necessary if you are anecdotal,
summarizing material, or giving instructions on how to deal with another
activity and want eye contact and full attention.
o Use overheads and
other graphic representations like PowerPoint because they can
assist in the clarification of topics including spontaneous annotations added to
these graphics. This would be particularly useful in mathematics and science
courses where symbols and step-by-step methods are taught.
o Inform the students
at the beginning of the school year the extent that the lecture notes are correlated
with assessments such as quizzes and
tests versus the textbook or other resources.
Teach them how to take notes in your discipline and check notebooks
from time to time.
o Mix it up. Limit the
instructor talk to shorter intervals, and then engage the students in a
discussion, worksheet, video, or reading for several minutes. Resume the lecture, if necessary, to add more content.
o
Deliver a concluding
statement.
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I appreciated well-organized lectures and the
effort instructors put into structuring their curriculum with a semester
syllabus and daily outlines. Some were particularly engaging, and others had a
terrific sense of humor.
This chapter has looked at both the positive
and negative elements of the lecture, particularly beneficial when coupled with student-led
scenarios along with cooperative or individual worksheets. An aspect of a student's educational experience is to
develop auditory cognition, absorbing and evaluate ideas as a person is speaking, and
a well-planned lecture can be a meaningful learning endeavor.
In addition, while the cooperative experience
promotes a range of communication benefits, individual tasks (worksheets)
generate focus and allow for mediation that fosters independent thinking,
nurturing elevated levels of concentration.
Therefore, coupling a lecture with cooperative or
individual sessions is a sound practice since it works on multiple levels:
attentive listening, individual practice, or sharing knowledge with peers. The
combination is likely to further patterning and prediction skills, too.
Many combinations (cooperative or individual)
can be mixed and sequenced to keep the intensity level high for the span of the
period.
Basic Lesson Plan and Week Planner templates
can be found in the Appendix.
Conclusion
Incorporating an assortment of activities in
the classroom can sustain the level of novelty to keep students
motivated every day. Studies have shown that reliance on lectures as the
predominant mode of transferring knowledge tends to reduce interest and holds
the attention of a fraction of the audience – the more auditory-able students.2,3
Though students can become better listeners
with practice, use of cooperative learning incorporates more
analytical thinking while perpetuating peer approval for creativity and methods
to solve problems and analyze content. Shorter lectures are recommended to
improve auditory processing, and when coupled with individual or group learning
heightens the novelty of a lesson.
*******
References
1. McKeachie,
W. (1986). Teaching tips: A guidebook for the beginning college teacher. Boston: D.C. Health
2. Verner, C.,
Dickinson, G. (1967). The Lecture, An
Analysis and Review of Research, Adult
Education, 17, 85-100.
3. McKeachie,
W. Kulick, J. (1975). Effective College Training. Review of
research in Education. Itasca, IL: Peacock Press.
4. Stones, E.,
(1970). Students' attitudes to the size of teaching groups. Educational Review, 21(2), 98-108.
5. Henderson,
G., Nash, S. (2007). Excellence in college teaching and lecturing.
Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas
Publishers, LTD.
