Teaching by classmates and appropriate teaching: a proposal to engage students in the Physics Teaching and Learning Process

Abstract

Improving one’s professional and academic training on many levels requires rethinking the role of formal teaching strategies. In education time and again educational research highlights the problems associated with employing lectures almost exclusively as an instructional strategy. Whether due to the lack of infrastructure for implementing new solutions, inertia of the school system or even the lack of viable alternative choices, this ancient strategy is still ubiquitous in the school environment, regardless of the associated learning outcomes. The so-called “traditional” teaching method of lecture is strongly correlated with rote learning and the absence of students’ motivation to learn. There are several abstract, general pedagogical theories about this situation that teachers may employ. However, there are few concrete alternatives to help teachers, particularly in physics at both the high school and higher education introductory level. With this in mind, we describe and encourage the combined use of two methods of teaching that are focused on meaningful learning of concepts and procedures, and we provide practical advice to facilitate their implementation in the classroom.