eledford's blog

My Experience. Speaking with a professor in the Biology department the other day about the new format of introductory biology at Bryn Mawr College made me reconsider my exploration of education and learning in this particular course, Brain, Education, and Inquiry. One thing the professor said that I found intensely interesting was how the most common complaint about the new course was that there was no text book; from my understanding, there was no lack of readings assigned, but still, a book of “facts” was what seemed to be the most requested. A common reason for this was that many felt they would not be prepared for the MCAT later on, or for upper level sciences, simply because they would not learn a standard set of facts.

            For several weeks now, our class discussions have focused on the problems with education – what has not been working and what has, our own past experiences, and how we could possibly remedy the current education deficit, so to speak. Recently, the lens with which we have been viewing education has shifted in order to include how the brain works in hopes that we can better approach education with a more thorough understanding of how inputs are processed, information manipulated, and outputs produced.

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