An old comedy routine on Saturday Night Live by Father Guido Sarducci introduced a “Five-Minute University,” because five minutes is all that's remembered after graduation anyway. In counterpoint, we discuss “cycling,” a teaching method for memory enhancement. Our principal implementation consists of offering a simple version of a given course in the first third of the semester, a deeper and more integrated version in the second third, and the final, targeted version in the last third. We describe the benefits and challenges in this tale from the trenches.
References
1.
S.
Tobias
, Revitalizing Undergraduate Science: Why Some Things Work and Most Don't. An Occasional Paper on Neglected Problems in Science Education
(Research Corporation
, Tucson
, 1992
).2.
Cornell Sloan Foundation Workshop (
1993
).3.
C.
Henderson
and K. A.
Harper
, “Quiz corrections: Improving learning by encouraging students to reflect on their mistakes
,” Phys. Teach.
47
(9
), 581
–586
(Dec.
2009
). 4.
A resource for evidence-based education research is http://perusersguide.org.
5.
See, for example,
N. J.
Cepeda
, E.
Vul
, D.
Rohrer
, J. T.
Wixted
, and H.
Pashler
, “Spacing effects in learning a temporal ridgeline of optimal retention
,” Psychol. Sci.
19
(11
), 1095
–1102
(2008
). Some reference in the education reform world is made to “spiraling” as a description of revisiting, such as in mathematics. But to avoid the imagery of converging or diverging as we go, and to connect well with “layering,” we have continued to be more comfortable with our original “cycling” connotation. 6.
D. A.
Kolb
, Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development
. 2nd ed. (Prentice Hall
, 2015
).7.
References to cognitive load theory can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_load.
8.
We can also report steady improvement beyond the 85 averages, but the average SAT scores in our classes have been increasing, too.
9.
More than 2000 sets were mailed out over the past two years, and 800 sets were given as prizes at CUWIP (Conferences for University Women in Physics) by APS. See http://great.cwru.edu.
© 2015 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2015
American Association of Physics Teachers
AAPT members receive access to The Physics Teacher and the American Journal of Physics as a member benefit. To learn more about this member benefit and becoming an AAPT member, visit the Joining AAPT page.
