Self-Explanation: A Powerful Teaching Strategy for your Physics Classroom

As teachers, one of the main reasons why we understand our subject matter so well is the amount of practice we have had in explaining it to others. The research in the area of the self explanation effect is quite clear: students who explain conceptual ideas and problem solving examples to themselves and to others learn better and make more accurate self-assessments of their understanding. To help your students reach this higher level of understanding in physics I will introduce three tools to facilitate self explanation: Peer Instruction, Ranking Tasks, and White boarding. Using these three tools will not only enhance the self-explanations in your classroom but will also encourage student-to-student dialogue resulting in a more student-centred atmosphere in your classroom. Participants will take away ready to use materials that will have your students self-explaining the next day in your classroom.

"Glenn Wagner has been a physics and science educator for the past 20 years. He takes great joy in learning how people learn, so much so that he is in his second year of a Ph.D. program at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. He has written numerous articles related to physics teaching and is constantly trying new, research-based ideas in his physics classroom to improve student learning. Editor comment: Glenn Wagner is also a winner of the 2009 Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence and past-president of OAPT"