EDUCATION CAN BE A RESEARCH SUBJECT TOO, THROUGH SCIENTIFIC TEACHING.

Year 2017, Volume: 3 Issue: 2, 129 - 139, 29.12.2017

Justin Fendos

https://doi.org/10.23884/mejs.2017.3.2.07

Abstract

In the last few decades, many
important discoveries have been made in the field of education research. Few
have been more influential than Dr. Donald Bligh’s discovery that lectures are an
inefficient method for student retention of new information. In the years
following Dr. Bligh’s discovery, science education in the US has witnessed a
significant change in focus away from lecture-styled approaches that emphasize
memorization towards interactive approaches focusing more on the training of
skill competence. A range of research has employed the principles of scientific
teaching with great success to investigate a wide array of different learning
methods, resulting in the development of powerful education platforms such as
active learning and authentic research experiences (AREs). This article reviews
some of the education literature behind scientific teaching, active learning,
and AREs, ending with a short commentary about the immense potential for the
application of these systems in higher education in the Middle East, both as a
process of improving educational outcome as well as enhancing the efficacy of
pedagogy as a research subject.

Keywords

scientific teaching, active learning, STEM education, authentic research experiences, education research

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