I enjoyed attending lectures as a student, and I enjoy lecturing now. I love biology and I love explaining it. I love introducing new terms, emphasizing the particulars of their usage, and giving students tricks for remembering them. I love explaining concepts, and making connections with things students have already learned or already know from everyday life examples.
However, despite my love for the lecture, I’m not so sure that my students benefit from it in the ways that I expect. More and more, my students are failing my introductory biology courses. This might be due to lack of effort or lack of preparation or both. Or, it might be that lecturing is not the most effective means of content delivery. Lecturing simply does not seem to reach a majority of my students.
Lecture-Free Teaching provides an alternative. This inspirational text provides a well-referenced call for science education reform, describes...