Sir, – William Reville warns educators of the lack of evidence to support "faddish" teaching methods such as inquiry-based learning ("Beware of faddish teaching methods that scorn 'rote learning'", Science, September 17th).
Having just returned from the annual meeting of the American Association of Physics Teachers in Maryland, I feel Prof Reville’s comments are unwarranted and are not reflective of published findings. There are numerous studies that show active learning practices increase student performance in science, engineering, technology and maths. Schools and universities are adopting pedagogical approaches that are based on such evidence – testable scientific hypotheses are guiding how and what we teach.
Many of my scientific colleagues are concerned with the lack of genuine understanding of fundamental concepts or acquisition of scientific habits of mind shown by students who have learned in the traditional fashion Prof Reville defends. The motivation for changing our learning environments is not, as Prof Reville suggests, to satisfy philosophical notions, but rather in response to poor learning outcomes for too many of our students. – Yours, etc,
Dr SHANE BERGIN,
School of Physics ,
Trinity College Dublin,
Dublin 2.