Dennison Tate
Dennison Tate is firmly convinced that presenting a challenge to a team of students is the most effective way of motivating them to work harder. Over the years, he has used this technique very effectively, particularly in his advanced physics course for students planning to go to university. This course, which has been offered since 1990 at Harrison Trimble School in Moncton, New Brunswick, covers electromagnetism, quantum theory and nuclear physics. Dennison has encouraged his students to work in teams on challenging subjects that have included black holes, nano-technology, superstring theory, wormholes and the greenhouse effect. He has also devised a popular science journalism project.
His students have prepared and demonstrated a CD-ROM, and he taught seven of the top 27 students in the 1993 Canadian Association of Physicists competition. He has also developed an innovative program to foster awareness of the physics and biology particular to the Bay of Fundy region by setting up a science program for teachers and students in an historic lighthouse.
Approach to teaching
"Over the years, I have come to recognize the usefulness of team-directed, team-oriented projects to develop the skills for doing science."
Students need an opportunity to express and pursue their curiosity, to develop an awareness of the limitless scope of scientific endeavour, to demand much of themselves, to develop their potential for serious research, and to expand their capability for aggressive and tireless dedication to understanding or solving a complex problem.
I tell my classes that it is my intention to deal with problems that are much more difficult than those usually used in high school courses, including some that we will not be able to solve. I want them to understand that these are real problems that we will be tackling together and not just some super-difficult problem that I have the answer to in a book somewhere.
I explain to them that they should feel very uncomfortable at times — that sometimes they should feel that the fence is too high to jump. I want them to understand that this feeling is not abnormal or a sign of failure, but rather a sign that they are learning how to deal with a variety of situations.
Transferable experience
An environment that embodies these motivational factors is often developed through trial and error. However, over the years, some techniques surface as more useful, efficient and effective than others. One that has worked well for me is called science in the news.
The students were given the task of finding a science news item that had not been published — that is, to find scientific work that was going on that nobody knew about yet — and to present it in a publishable format.
Before the project began, I approached the local newspaper to see if the editors would be willing to work with us. They agreed, subject to certain conditions: the material had to be ready by a certain deadline and the newspaper would not be obligated to publish anything deemed unpublishable. The editors made a number of visits to the class to explain their requirements and some of the pitfalls of reporting.
The key to this project was that the only direction supplied to the students was that provided by the problem itself. In this case, they had to meet the newspaper's requirements and they had to work in a way that was acceptable to the scientists they contacted for help.
The students had to devise ways to contact the scientists. Searching for news that hasn't been published is not an easy task, because you can't just go to a journal or a newspaper or the Internet. You have to think of other sources. Some students approached the science departments of local universities to find out about research projects. Others contacted scientific authors whose work they had been reading to learn about purely theoretical work. Still others noticed a project to clean up a local stream and looked into it. In each case, the students discovered what the scientists were doing and kept track of some of the outcomes.
My role as teacher was to outline the problem, to stress the importance of meeting the deadline and to remind them how far along they should be if they hoped to meet that deadline. I was also available if students wanted to discuss their work.
I gave them the assignment in February, and they had three months to put it together. As April approached, I told them that, if they were not nearing completion by now, they might be in trouble. All of the work was completed well within the semester and six of the eight articles were published.