Center for Teaching and Learning

According to a well known 1990 University of California Berkeley learning-retention study, most college students only remember about 20% of what is presented in a traditional lecture several days after class (Angelo, 1990). Traditional lectures are a teacher-centered format where a professor does the majority of the talking, the students take notes, and the students are periodically tested over their notes. The study concludes that the reason for such a low learning-retention is that students spend most of their efforts taking notes instead of thinking about what is being discussed. Knowledge retention would increase if students studied their notes soon after the lesson, but few of them do. Furthermore, in a typical classroom of undergraduates, fewer than 15% are paying attention to what is being presented at any one time during the class, excluding the first eight minutes. The study suggests that students need to be actively thinking about what is being presented if they are to retain the information.

Join your colleagues for 50 minutes to discuss constructivism, The 5-E Learning Cycle, alternatives to lecturing, and formative assessment.

Facilitator: Matt Partin

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