The purposes of the lecture method in higher education are considered. The advocates of lecturing claim that this approach can be used to present knowledge to students, to foster intellectual skills, and to change students' attitudes and values. Research evidence suggests that: the lecture can be effective for expounding facts and principles,…

The effect of humor on retention of lecture material was studied with 100 undergraduate students at California State University, Dominguez Hills. Within each class, students were divided into four equal groups, and four versions of a lecture on language development were presented on videotape by a college faculty member. The lectures were…

Two intermediate algebra classes at a large university were selected for this study comparing increase in mathematics achievement for students enrolled in a course that used either traditional lecture approach or a traditional lecture approach plus a mastery learning laboratory. The laboratory was staffed by tutors who administered and graded unit…

The primary problem was to investigate the relationships between two methods of presenting biological information (lecture-laboratory and audio-tutorial) and students' attitudes toward biology and their terminal achievement. A total of 259 students from Grand Rapids Junior College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, participated while 136 students from…

The effects of expert speakers in producing change in drug attitudes, opinions and knowledge of high school students were evaluated with a quasi-field experiment. Three different treatment groups (expertise areas) and a control group were employed. The results indicate that such programs have no change effect. (Author)

A modified mastery learning method resulted in significantly higher achievement and improved attitudes of educational psychology students than either traditional lectures or a combined approach. (Editor/MM)

During a series of electronics lectures, college students used three kinds of notes: (1) duplicates of lecturer's notes; (2) headings, key points, diagram outlines, tables and references with spaces for additional information; and (3) students' own notes taken during lectures. Student preferences for type of notes, and achievement using the three…

College freshmen enrolled in English composition classes were polled to determine their attitudes toward two different methods of bibliographic instruction: the lecture-discussion practicum and the workbook. Analysis indicated that most students perceived the lecture-discussion to be the more successful instructional technique for both general and…

This article describes how the effects of initial and final lecture quality on end-of-course student ratings can be predicted from seemingly unrelated gain-loss theory. The effects were investigated, along with the effect on ratings of student belief that the instructor will use midterm rating feedback to improve teaching. (Author)

Results of an experimental study to compare telelecture with traditional lecture methods in a teacher education program. (Editor/TA)

Reports on the comparative effectiveness of demonstration and lecture formats for presenting physiological measures. Although demonstrations may improve retention of information concerning simple procedures, the lecture format is more effective for complex information. (CFR)

Notes that the manner in which the author was using the incorporation of electronic slides into his lectures allowed students to become disengaged from the learning process. Presents strategies to combat disengagement and strategies to supplement textbook slides. Concludes that student disengagement can be counteracted with limited expenditure of…

A graduate level research methods and statistics course offered on the World-Wide Web was evaluated relative to the traditional. With their consent, course members were randomly assigned to the two versions of the course for the first block of sessions. For the second block of sessions the groups crossed over to access the alternative version of…

In this article, the authors present the results of a survey of students at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands concerning the students' opinions about how PowerPoint should be used in university lectures. The most important outcome of the survey is that a vast majority of the respondents prefer a modest layout. Most students dislike…

For the past eight years the University of Michigan has offered two different styles of biochemistry courses each semester, one a standard lecture-based and discussion-section (SLB) course and one a self-paced, non-lecture Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) course. We tracked student responses to selected exam questions that were used in…