Blog Post #14

Pseudoteaching: MIT Physics

Pseudoteaching is when a lesson plan looks like it results in students learning but in reality the lesson is flawed and involves minimal learning. This term was brought about by Dan Meyer’s term pseudocontext. A term referring to examples of textbook problems that on the surface seemed to be about real problems and situations, but in reality were about make believe contexts that had little connection to the real world. Mr. Walter Lewin a physics teacher at MIT gave an excellent lecture that demonstrated what pseudoteaching was. Although he was full of energy and was passionate about physics, he might as well have been teaching an empty class room. By the end of the lecture Lewin had done all the hard work and talking and by the end of the term his class attendance and passing grade had dropped.

It wasn’t until 30 years later that Lewin realized the mistakes he had made. Just because you are passionate about educating does not make you a good teacher and just because you stand in front of your class and give your students a great lecture does not make you a great teacher. It’s important that we learn to teach our students to be passionate about learning just as much as we are passionate about teaching. This is succeeded by getting our students involved in the lesson plan. Encourage your students to speak out loud if they have a question, encourage your students to work amongst themselves and to learn on their own, instead of trying to memorize what was written on the board. One great idea I plan on using once I become a teacher is to encourage my students to come up with a lesson plan to their liking and even maybe allowing the students to teach the class. I feel this is a great idea so I as a teacher know that my students understand what is being taught in class, and additionally it is a great way for the students to be involved in learning.