Preferred Learning Activities

In this study, we utilized end-of-the-semester survey data in which students ranked nine learning activities “in order of their importance in helping a student do well in this course”. The activities were: attending lectures, reading the text, reading the objectives, doing homework, doing homework in study groups, attending evening reviews, completing lab assignments, doing inclass exercises, doing in-class exercises in groups. In a second part of the survey, students also indicated the fraction of the lectures they attended, the fraction of the homework they completed, the fraction of the homework they completed in groups, and the fraction of the reading they completed, and how often they read the objectives. These data showed that the students valued and used the lectures and homework and that they devalued and did not use the text and objectives. The study suggested that some students did not respond to the modern instructional methodology tools (e.g., learning objectives, group homework, and active/cooperative learning exercises). It also suggested that these courses contained at least two subpopulations – those that rely on lectures and homework (listening and doing) and those that rely on the text and objectives (reading and thinking).