Gunther Karen L
Department of Psychology, Wabash College, Crawfordsville, IN.
J Undergrad Neurosci Educ. 2011 Oct 15;10(1):A14-23. Print 2011 Fall.
Scientific material can be difficult to relate to everyday knowledge. Textbook facts can be abstract. This Study of Teaching and Learning project examined the use of "non-fiction novels" (biographies and other books that read like novels but are true) in an undergraduate Sensation and Perception course in order to increase the concreteness of the reading material and to give the students a story on which to hang the facts learned in lecture. In Phase I (Fall 2009) non-fiction novels were used for half of the units and a standard textbook for the other half. In Phase II (Fall 2010) only non-fiction novels were used. The Fall 2009 class was very positive about the use of non-fiction novels, but exam scores did not mirror this enthusiasm, either on semester exam scores or on a four-month re-take of the cumulative final exam. In contrast, the Fall 2010 class missed having a textbook, but exam performance significantly improved over prior semesters, and performance on the four-month re-take of the cumulative final exam showed performance equivalent to the Fall 2009 class's four-month performance on questions from textbook units. In both semesters, the effectiveness of the instructor in stimulating student interest was significantly higher than in prior years where only the textbook was used. In addition, 68% of the students said that reading the non-fiction novels made them want to learn more about our sensory systems.
科学材料可能难以与日常知识联系起来。教科书上的知识可能很抽象。这个教与学研究项目考察了在本科的“感觉与知觉”课程中使用“非虚构小说”（传记及其他读起来像小说但内容真实的书籍）的情况，目的是增加阅读材料的具体性，并给学生一个故事，以便他们将在课堂上学到的知识与之联系起来。在第一阶段（2009年秋季），一半的单元使用非虚构小说，另一半使用标准教科书。在第二阶段（2010年秋季），只使用非虚构小说。2009年秋季班对使用非虚构小说非常满意，但考试成绩并未反映出这种热情，无论是在学期考试成绩上，还是在四个月后重新进行的累积期末考试中。相比之下，2010年秋季班怀念有教科书的日子，但考试成绩比前几个学期有显著提高，并且在四个月后重新进行的累积期末考试中的表现与2009年秋季班在教科书单元问题上四个月后的表现相当。在两个学期中，教师激发学生兴趣的效果都比前几年显著提高，前几年只使用教科书。此外，68%的学生表示，阅读非虚构小说让他们想要更多地了解我们的感觉系统。
