Former Physics Professor Confesses Teaching is the 'Mega-Lie'

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Former Physics Professor Confesses Teaching is the 'Mega-Lie'

Jan 2, 2013

PHYSICS AND THE 'MEGA-LIE': "How does reasoning develop in a life of artificial stimuli?" That's the deep (and depressing) question that Denis Rancourt arrives at in this revealing essay, How to Not Teach Physics. Despite two decades of trying to "read books about teaching and about interesting demonstrations, and go through all the stages of improving [his] method," the formerly tenured University of Ottawa professor concluded of his students: "They don’t learn from being taught. That’s the mega-lie."

No spoilers here but Rancourt's approach towards his next cohort of students proved so successful that his teaching assistant left the physics discipline to focus on education!

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