Miguel wrote, in part:
> I guess that if we wish to make a good impression on our students (be
> 'student-centered' ?) we may have to reconsider our approach. According to the
> Perlman & McCann (1999) study "Many students want the class dismissed after
> administrative details are completed and signficantly more upper-than
> underclass, and men rather than women, expressed this view." (p. 278).
> Earlier on that same page these authors report that "Only 1% of the respondents
> said beginning course content (e.g., lecture) makes for a good first class
> period and few students (6%) mentioned that keeping them the full class period
> works well".
One might suggest that we have TAUGHT students to have these expectations by
giving them multiple examples that nothing of any pedagogical substance happens
(becomes "is supposed to happen") on the first day of class.
What a surprise! The students come to expect that what has happened in the past
is likely to happen in the future.
Perhaps the attitudes mentioned above would change is students see, over and
over again, that the first day of class is important, just as all the other
days of class are.
Pat Cabe
**************************************************
Patrick Cabe, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
University of North Carolina at Pembroke
One University Drive
Pembroke, NC 28372-1510
(910) 521-6630
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."
Thomas Jefferson
"There is the danger that everyone waits
idly for others to act in his stead."
Albert Einstein
"Majorities simply follow minorities.
Gandhi
