issue 40/47/90 issue 90:Educators should take students' interests into account when planning the content of the courses they teach.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.
required courses
why not
- certain materials are important
- certain materials may become more interesting after some exposure to it
elective courses
attract more students to different field
Students’ interests in different topics and contents are an important issue that course planners need to consider. Whether this factor should be taken into account to determine the content of the courses depends on whether the course is a requirement for students pursuing their majors or an elective course designed to broaden students’ horizon. I will first explain two reasons why required courses should be designed without regard to students’ interests. Afterwards, I would discuss why the statement holds true for elective courses.
The first reason why required courses often include materials students are not interested in is that such materials are essential for students’ current and future academic studies. Take the introductory Calculus course I took as a freshman for example. In the course, the professor introduced Matlab as a programming tool for performing advanced math calculations. Without prior background in programming, most students found the materials boring and difficult. Following the logic of the statement, the professor should not have included Matlab programming in the course because students would not be interested in the topic. Nevertheless, learning how to use Matlab as a tool to solve advanced math problems is an essential technique not just for this course on Calculus but for many other courses in science and engineering that students need to take in the near future. Therefore, the topic has to be treated at a considerable length despite the lack of interests of the students.
In addition, the interests of students on a certain topic may change dramatically after some exposure to it. This is the second reason why course planners should not exclude certain topics simply because students are not interested at the beginning. In the Calculus course I took, after spending some time learning how to program in Matlab, my classmates and I had gradually realized the power of Matlab in solving math problems numerically. We were particularly impressed with the visialization of an abstract math problem made possible by some programs written in Matlab. Towards the end of course, most of us became increasingly interested in Matlab as a useful tool for solving math and engineering problems. As this example clearly illustrates, it often takes some time for students to develop their interests on certain topics that seemed to be boring at the beginning. Therefore, course planners should not give up such topics too early.
On the other hand, when designing elective courses, students’ interests should be a decisive factor. As we know, unlike required courses for students’ major field of study, elective courses are offered with the belief that students should take different courses outside their major fields to receive a more well-rounded education. Such courses are often standalone without close links to more advanced courses on the same topics. Therefore, the course planners can be more flexible in choosing what topics to cover in such introductory courses. For example, in the course “Physics and Society”, an elective course I took in my sophomore year, the professor covered a wide range of topics from global warming to nuclear energy that most students fould appealing and relevant. Due to its interesting topics, this course had become one of the most popular courses among non-physics majors when I was in college. Indeed, this is another reason why elective courses have to present materials that are interesting— they have to attract students who have many options when choosing elective courses.
In conclusion, student’s interests should be taken into account when determining the content of elective courses that are offerred to broaden students’ horizons. But for required courses that prepare students for more advanced training in a given field, the course contents should be designed based on students’ needs rather than interests. Nevertheless, students may develop their interests on certain topics after some exposure to the topics despite their initial lack of interests.
issue 40) Claim: When planning courses, educators should take into account the interests and suggestions of their students. Reason: Students are more motivated to learn when they are interested in what they are studying.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim and the reason on which that claim is based.
issue 47) Educators should find out what students want included in the curriculum and then offer it to them. Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.