The school my 3rd child attended as a freshman and sophomore had block scheduling and he hated it. He said that half of the period was almost always wasted, except for the (occasional) science lab. My brother taught in a high school (which his children attended) which switched to block scheduling and he says the same thing. The only way enough material can be covered is to rely on the lecture format, and most of the students cannot/will not keep up with the pace or absorb the content. There is also a significant issue with retention/continuity, especially in math and foreign languages. When we moved out of that area, one of the major factors in choosing where to live was the need to avoid districts with block scheduling.
I hear the same thing from everyone.
And from Chem Prof:
I'd second the rejection of block scheduling. I advise incoming college freshmen, and those words fill me with dread. Students who theoretically have taken calculus wind up placing into precalc consistently, because they remember almost none of it. The same thing is usually true for science coursework. Worse, if they have math in a fall block one year and a spring block the next, it can be 18 months with no math class, so they just wind up reteaching everything they learned already.
Basically, block scheduling is a way to have lots of wasted time for projects, but they really only cover one semester of material in one semester. There may be exceptions, but I haven't seen them.
"You can't cram math."
Or anything else.
Still, a simpler explanation is not that they forgot it, but that they never learned it. It's not clear that these kids would really have learned more in non block scheduling, is it?
ReplyDeleteBlock scheduling, though, is a overused term with many different meanings.
In the local junior high, it meant college-style classes where they had two periods of math class on M and W, none on T or Thursday, and two periods of history on T and Thursday, none on M or W. So they didn't go a semester or two without math, just every other day. (q: why does this work in college but not high school? Does that mean it doesn't really work in college?)
In other places, it apparently means "double class" for 18 calendar weeks and then nothing for the next semester.
In my own high school, block scheduling meant that the classes rotated the times of day they met. Period A was first on mondays, last on Tuesdays, 2nd to last on Wednesdays, etc.
From previous discussions (and from my own experience with my son), spaced repetition is a key to retention. If you reduce the number of impressions, you should expect reduced retention. Either sort of block scheduling would tend to reduce impressions.
ReplyDeleteFor college, much more independent work is (well, should be) required. I believe that the standard is two hours out of class for every hour in class. Given that, you should expect enough of an increase in out-of-class repetitions to make up for the reduction in in-class repetitions.
Jeff Lindsay has a site with a lot of (critical) material on block scheduling which may be of interest:
ReplyDeleteLindsay site
"why does this work in college but not high school? Does that mean it doesn't really work in college?"
ReplyDeleteI suspect it has to do with this: In college you're there because you choose to be. In high school you're there because you're compelled to be.
That can make a huge difference in terms of the works people will put into something and the knowledge they'll take away from it.
One local high school has block scheduling - 4 classes per semester, 2 hours or so each day. There is nothing to stop a student from taking a mathematics course BOTH semesters. If that is their choice.
ReplyDeleteThe school that my kids go to is planning a high school extension with a mandatory study hall period in 11th & 12th grade. They feel their curriculum will be so rigorous, students will need this.
"why does this work in college but not high school? Does that mean it doesn't really work in college?"
ReplyDeleteWho says it works in college? In areas that build on themselves (math, science, foreign language), you don't take a class one semester and then take a break. Most of these classes, like General Chemistry or Calculus, are a full year long, and at least for the first couple of years in these areas, you continue to take one year sequences. In upper division, you may pick and choose more, but a chemistry major doesn't typically opt to take a semester where they aren't learning any chemistry, at least not if they plan to graduate on time!
Now in other areas it is different, but there the argument is that they are working on more general skills like writing and analysis, in many of their classes. Plus, I know at my institution, the history and art history faculty would love to make the students take year long sequences, since they are frustrated with the constant need to reteach!
Block scheduling has created big problems at our local high school. Students do not always have the option of taking math or language classes both semester, either because the classes are full or the next level in the sequence isn't being offered. My neighbor's son took math (Calculus perhaps) in the fall, was unable to take any math in the spring or the following fall. He had a similar gap with his foreign language.
ReplyDelete"Who says it works in college? In areas that build on themselves (math, science, foreign language), you don't take a class one semester and then take a break."
ReplyDeleteAmen. I only know about foreign language, but it is definitely true there. This is why you typically have five days of contact in a foreign language class.
When I was doing my engineering degree, the university administration was trying to require the engineering school to offer semester-long courses instead of year-long courses. The engineering school faculty all planned, if the administration succeeded, to just split their existing courses half-way and make the first semester a pre-requisite for the second.
ReplyDeleteIn college, you get office hours. You get enthusiastic peers. You get peer study groups. You will order take out to the library while you do chemistry problem sets (and maybe some peeking at facebook).
ReplyDeleteNone of that in HS.
It's one of the reasons why I'm unhappy with the state of many AP programmes. Sure, I'm glad that Collegeboard and dual-enrollment combined gave me over 43 credits for stuff that was mostly senior-year coursework -- worth 1/3 of the typical college career, but I would say I learnt very little from AP teachers themselves. Most of it was self-study out of my own interest.
"Most of these classes, like General Chemistry or Calculus, are a full year long, and at least for the first couple of years in these areas, you continue to take one year sequences."
ReplyDeleteThat darn 17-credit limit for first-years in my school disrupts the sequence from AP and dual-enrollment courses though. I don't have any math courses this year. I'd like to build upon calc II and linear algebra... but generally unless you're in engineering your advanced math courses are generally a few years ahead of the courses in which you'll apply them. So pre-reqs come first.
I mean, that even applies in high school. It's AWFUL trying to do theoretical economics in a senior-dominated high school class where the teacher doesn't want to introduce too much math (things like quantifying rate of change, or slope) for fear of scaring the students.