Question for students/former students about science/math teachers at universities?

Question

At my school the professors all love to teach math and science with powerpoint presentations. They like describing math with words and showing pictures of it. When it comes to actually showing an example for math/science they simply show a picture of it and describe it with their own words. I know in some schools they are more old fashioned in the way that they teach and do not use powerpoints(which i think is great). How is was your college experience with this situation?

Thank You

Answer 1

I've taken precalc and calc at my school and my professors don't use powerpoints. They usually work out problems on the board or the over head. I think this makes it a lot easier to learn. I don't know how you learn math except to see it done, so I'm not sure how power points would work. I think power points should be saved for classes like psyc and history where there are extensive notes.

Answer 2

Most of my math and science courses were taught using powerpoint presentations also.  I agree with you in the fact that they are not as effective as other methods.  I am actually working on an elementary education degree, and in education classes they stress NOT to use lecture-style teaching as it is truly less effective.  It wasn't until these education courses that I actually participated in DOING math and science (i.e. experiments, using manipulatives, working in cooperative groups, etc.).  I find it quite odd that all this research points to lecture/powerpoint being least effective, yet, it is used the most in schools (especially high school/college).  I'll tell you what - I remember nearly everything in my Teaching Math/Science courses (because we DID math/science)...and I remember very little from courses like Biology, Chemistry, College Algebra, Earth Science, etc, (all powerpoint/lecture courses).  The saying is true - "I hear/I forget, I see/I remember, I do/I understand".  It's just a shame that universities tend to go with the "hearing" and "seeing".