Resumen de Slow and steady: The effects of teaching a one-semester introductory mechanics class over a year
From the time of the earliest work in educational psychology, there has been evidence that expanding the time for studyleads to enhanced retention of knowledge. Yet, the current format of tertiary education in the US tends to package materialinto compressed units. The goal of this study was to explore whether increasing the time over which students are exposed tomaterial results in a deeper knowledge of the material, with better problem-solving skills. An introductory mechanics classusually taught over one semester was taught over two semesters, with no change in total content, work-load, delivery, orassessment. A control was established with the usual form of the class being taught by the same instructor in the secondsemester. At the end of the two classes, a common final exam was given to both sections and graded together. Theperformance on the homeworks and the first mid-term appeared to reflect the academic performance of each section priorto enrollment in the class. The performance of the experimental section in the second midterm improved slightly relative tothe control section. However,the performanceof the experimental sectionin the final exam was significantlybetter thantheperformance of the control section. Extending the time over which students are exposed to new material may lead to adeeper understanding and better problem solving skills.
