Eric Mazur is a Harvard physicist and educator who developed a teaching method called Peer Instruction. Peer Instruction involves students learning from each other during class. It begins with a concept-based question that challenges students’ understanding. After individually answering the question, students discuss their responses with their peers.
This collaborative discussion helps them clarify their thinking and learn from different perspectives. Finally, the instructor provides further explanation and addresses any remaining misconceptions. Mazur’s work emphasizes active learning, engagement, and the importance of peer interaction in enhancing students’ understanding and knowledge retention.
Peer Instruction for Active Learning | Eric MazurIn tis talk from Professor Mazur he explains the rationale behind peer instruction. I feel it should be mandatory watching for every educationalist, teacher, lecturer, trainer, or conference organizer. And, of course, students themselves.
Education in a sense is a two step process. One step is the transfer of information and we have many ways of transferring information. One is books, the other is video, and … by lecture …
However, the crucial part of an education is for the student to make sense of that information, to have the aha moments – oh I get it. So you can apply the knowledge embedded in the information in a new context.
Credit: Eric Mazur
Professor Mazur describes how he accidentally hit on this approach in the 1990s.
Interactive teaching.| Eric MazurI remember at one point trying to explain something to my students that I thought was completely trivial. I took two minutes, made some sketches on the board … I could see at once from my students’ faces that they were confused, so I asked if they had a question. They were so confused that they could not articulate a question. …
I tried it a different way, I added equations, and after eight minutes of what I thought was an absolutely brilliant explanation the entire blackboard was covered with equations and drawing, I turned around and the students looked even more confused. …
In a moment of despair, I said “Why don’t you discuss it with each other”. And something happened in my classroom that I’d never seen before. The whole classroom erupted … and in just two minutes they had figured out what the correct answer was.
Credit: Eric Mazur
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