... I'm teaching. First years. Cognitive science.
It turns out that a lot of what I thought was common knowledge isn't common at all. And what I count as a simple introduction leaves a lot of folk behind.
Now I know I'm not that ordinary in many senses - the obsession with complex concepts may give it away if the lack of social skills don't - but it is a big shock to me how under-educated these kids are. I find myself having to explain simple argument skills, and many of them have already done the critical reasoning course! This is no excuse, of course - it's my job to see they understand (or at least that they have the opportunity to understand) these concepts and arguments. But I expected them to have been better prepared. Or maybe I'm just naive. But I blame (you have to blame someone, you see - it's the Law) high school education here.
The other shock is how much work goes into an introductory lecture. It's taking me 2 to 4 days of reflection, reading and writing to work out the outlines. And I go too fast for them to absorb it, so I am going to have to put a lot more illustrations and discourse into the lectures. At least some of them are enthused and excited, which is always good. I'm not a total basket case. *sigh*
So all those wonderful posts I would otherwise be doing are just hovering, edged out by lectures, tutorials, and the Stuff I Have To Do. Pity me, and accept my excuse...
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John:
Scott (high school teacher) here. Three sections of chem, two of bio, and the last section (at the end of the daaaaaaaay) is a sort of punitive deal filled with 10th graders who previously failed the course.
Obviously, I not only sympathize, I feel guilty for even taking the time to post!
Aha. This explains everything. Discount the email that I just sent you.
I remember tutoring 2nd year grad students and was shocked at the fact that many of them did not know how to write meaningful sentences, develop flowing paragraphs, or construct a simple essay.
I too blame SH,OM
Terry Pratchett reference in the subject line. All is forgiven.
I'm sure he'll forgive me for Borrowing Granny that way.
[I have such literate commenters. I'm so proud. *sniff*]
I'm going to discover this this year - finally (after two years) got hired to teach biology in high school for my internship (for alternative certification). Of course, I'm going to be teaching (sort of) biology, IPC, and maybe other subjects like English, History, Math...core subjects. It's a lab for underachieving students, running a system called PLATO. So. I'll be dealing with seniors (or older) who haven't passed freshman level biology (and other courses). Since I'm in Waco, Tx, I am a little nervous as to what these kids have been taught.
The very first time I taught intro psych as a brand new assistant prof, I had a full professor of economics ask me if he could audit the class. Scared the hell out of me, but I made a condition of his participation that he give me weekly feedback. The first week he said, "Too much, too fast. Even for me." The second week he said "Too much, too fast, for them if not for me." By the sixth week I had it reasonably well calibrated.
Do you think that you might have a touch of the "you mean that today's undergrads aren't as excited/intelligent/awake as *I* was back then?" syndrome?
Not at all. I was just damned weird, and I was a lazy student if I wasn't totally engrossed in a subject. These kids are underprepared, but not unintelligent or undesirous of learning. Most of it is my fault, not theirs.
Speaking of not being dead, did you get a flu shot this year? Is flu vaccination a common practice for most Australians? Do health authorities encourage the general population, or high risk groups to get vaccinated every year?
A lot of people do, and this year the Uni offered it free, but I rarely bother. Flu strains are pretty mutable, and it's unlikely that the vaccine will be for the strain in play.
This may not be feasible, but how about taking a shot at posting here some of the material you are teaching? Snippets of lecture notes, ideas for conveying ideas, and frustrations like the one you speak about above. I'm giving odds you (and the rest of us) can have it both ways: get your class prep done and put something interesting and useful on the blog. Maybe it won't be the sort of thing you usually put here, but, well, that's okay. Create a new category: CogSci101 or whatever.
EQUAL RITES is unavailable. Could I borrow yours?
Sure. Just leave your children, your wallet, and all your online passwords at the desk as surety.
In case someone is desperate to read "Equal Rites" and can't get ahold of a printed version:
http://www.mybittorrent.com/info/553643/files/
In Mexico it's very hard (saying "impossible" wouldn't be an exageration) to get printed recent (and not so recent) science fiction and fantasy. The only choice is either to import the books in English from the USA (which isn't as easy as it sounds) or download the available electronic versions on the Web. I know it's akin to piracy (although I would say it could be fairly called that only if one tries to make a profit by reselling the file; otherwise, in my opinion, it's like borrowing the book from someone else; besides the market doesn't give us a decent choice).
I feel your pain, John. For the first time in my life I'm teaching at the undergraduate university level (I taught a little at graduate level), specifically, Cell Biology, and I still haven't recovered from the shock of finding out that my students don't have a clue about what a protein, carbohydrate or lipid is, even though they eat them all the time and at least proteins and carbohydrates are mentioned often as such in the mainstream media (I didn't expect them to know what a nucleotide or a nucleic acid are, even though the Human Genome Project was big news in the Mexican mainstream media and even there used to be a shampoo advertised as containing "vegetal DNA"). This kids haven't taken biochemistry yet (the assignature schedule is a little weird) but I remember learning what all those biomolecules are in my high school biology class. I guess I was lucky...
John: You Borrowed Granny? That had to be a terrifying experience! No wonder you're weird! ;)
If you come teach at the University of Melbourne I'll do my best to show that at least some of us are prepared (though being a graduate in an undergrad course I have a significant advantage).
Ribozyme: Hearing that is incredibly frustrating for me. I have no formal education in chemistry or biology, let alone biochemistry, yet it sounds as if I'm already more familiar with the content of cell biology courses than those undergraduates who have! It's frustrating because in order to be accepted into a course leading towards a degree in Neuroscience, I have to have taken chemistry...