Lecturing styles

How do your lecturers present material? For example, do you get a set of printed lecture notes, do they write everything on the board for you to slavishly copy down, or do they refer you to books for some of the finer details?

Before I started university, I'd heard that I was going to have to master the skill of taking good notes and doing independent reading. However, all of my lecturers spoonfeed us the whole syllabus in one way or another, whether by printed notes or by writing absolutely everything in great detail on the board, usually formatted like in a book, with complete sentences and numbered theorems (Lemma 5.1, Proposition 234.567.98, etc.) while we copy it down parrot fashion. Sometimes they say "See <insert name of book> for the proof," but material like this is never examinable. Although I've consulted books sometimes for alternative explanations, I could have managed without ever opening one.

I've often wondered if this is the case in other universities and if so, is it due to the nature of maths? It's all very well for a history lecturer to say "Go away and read about the French Revolution," but in maths there is always a defined list of things that MUST BE KNOWN. I can see that it would be very difficult for a lecturer to ensure that all the students had covered everything required unless s/he spelled it all out for them.

Reply 1

gianthead

I hope my course won't be like that! :eek:

I want a bit of challenge in my maths...I've always been self-taught and while I look on teachers etc as a useful sources of information, I would resent them doing the learning for me :p:

. What uni are you at and which year?

Reply 2

fabuleuse

Glasgow, 4th year. Don't get me wrong: it's not like school. We have to do plenty of slogging away independently to understand the material and complete problem sheets, etc. It's the actual method of lecturing I'm curious about.

Reply 3

Wrangler

gianthead

I hope my course won't be like that! :eek:

I want a bit of challenge in my maths...

Don't be fooled into thinking you'll understand everything (anything even) that they write down on the board, or give you in a handout.

The maths is the same whether they write it on the board for you to copy, or revert you to a book. The notion of "spoon feeding" in a mathematics degree, is when they give you copious amounts of worked examples, instead of expecting to go off and struggle with all the concepts yourself.

I'm sure you'll be challenged at some point during your maths degree at Chester. :smile:

Reply 4

Gaz031

You're only understanding and learning maths if you're able to do Maths.
Being able to take good notes says nothing about your Mathematical ability and so surely it's pointless to confuse things further by not making lectures clear and properly numbering definitions, lemmas and theorems so they can be referred to later.
Lecturers aren't doing the learning for you by trying to present the material as clearly as possible - you'll encounter enough temporary difficulties without being totally and utterly frustrated at having to go to the library every 5 mins to fill the holes in your notes.
What really counts is your ability to solve unfamiliar problems and apply what you've been told in lectures.
Take heart, there'll be plenty of challenge and it will be much more interesting than A-Level too.

Lecturing styles

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