I’ve been trying to sort out how to incorporate the problem based learning model in my teaching (most recently advocated by Chris Lehman during a session for ECI 831). I find it much easier to do when teaching computer science than when teaching math (just so you know, I teach about 90% senior math, 10% computer science). I’ve been pondering why that is, and I think a lot of it comes down to the fact that I haven’t been indoctrinated as much in my teaching of CS.
Although I was trained in computer science during my university days (in C++, no less), the vast majority of what I do now has been a result of teaching myself. When trying to sort out what language to teach my students in an introduction course (CS 20), I did a bunch of research and ended up choosing Python. In the process, however, I tried out a number of languages, enough to become semi-fluent in about 5 or 6.Since I’m a geek, I randomly get the urge to create a program to automate something or solve a problem I’m having. This lets me keep my skill level up in a variety of languages, as they all have strengths and weaknesses. All this has contributed to me becoming rather proficient at learning whatever I need to know by researching it on my own. I want my students to be able to do this.
As I said, this easy for me to do in CS. I can give the students a few basic nuggets of info, then let them go to it. For example, we’re using PHP to learn how interactive websites work right now. I taught them some basics about how PHP works, just enough to get their feet wet, then gave them a few simple assignments. The students have access to the net (obviously), and can therefore research methods of solving whichever problem I’ve set for them (say, creating a web form and spitting out the submissions to a text file). I essentially float around, acting as a resource, and occasionally will grab all of their attention by showing them a quick tip or trick on the projector.
In math, I’m at a loss. This is crazy, as I was a mathematics major at university, and took way more math courses than CS. However, the curriculum is so much tighter in a math course (it’s a struggle to finish it all), and the pressure to conform to the accepted way of teaching is so great (by students, parents, nearly everyone…), I find problem based learning really hard to implement. Not only that, but the sequence of high school math courses is such that if I don’t get around to teaching them something, they are completely lost in their next class (which I may or may not be teaching them).
Because of this, I don’t really use PBL in my math classes right now. What I do, however, is make my students construct the math that they learn on their own. I’m there, and I ask questions, but it’s rare that I will give an answer without dishing it off to one of them. So, if you were to visit one of my classes, you’d see me at the front of the room a fair bit, but I’m really conscientious about only writing what the students tell me to write. I make them put the pieces together.
This takes engaged students, however. I get them to buy in by being ridiculously excitable about math. Seriously. I tell them about Ug the Caveman, who created all of our number systems (some of them actually go for this, believe it or not). I point and gesture like a madman. I play random YouTube videos just for the heck of it. We have fun. In return, when I ask them a question, I get answers. Lots of answers. If it’s right, great. If it’s wrong, great. We figure it out together.
The downside is that I don’t ever get to sit down during a class. The upside is that I’m pretty sure that by the end of our time together, my students are better at thinking than they were at the start. It just so happens that I use traditional math knowledge to make them better thinkers. I don’t believe that teaching them to think this way is any less valid than teaching them how computers and the web work, even if the material is esoteric and will be used by only a few of them. The thinking, I keep telling myself, they can all use.
danschellenberg Computer Science, Education, Math