What Students Are Not Learning

What a teacher thinks he teaches may be very different from what the students actually understand. 

A survey in 1986 of students from Harvard University on their graduation day found that most Harvard graduates did not know why it is warmer in summer than winter. 

For example, many graduates thought that it is warmer in summer because the earth is closer to the sun at that time. 

In a 1994 survey, graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) were asked: 

"If you were given a piece of wire, a battery, and a flashlight bulb, could you light the bulb?"  

Most of the students answered "yes" but when they were given the bulb, battery and wire, few could light the bulb. 

Why is it that so many students are leaving their classes with a different understanding of what their teachers believe they have taught? 

Students build their own understanding of the subject matter based on their own experiences and beliefs. 

The result is that they often leave class with a different idea from what the teacher intended. 

For more effective education, educators can: 

• connect their teaching with the students' own experiences; and
• provide opportunities for the students to explore their own understandings, and test and explore the validity of their own views of the world. 

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