Effective and Efficient Use of Classroom Time Marcus E. Jorgensen' Department of Physical and Ocean Sciences, U. S. Coast Guard Academy, New London, CT 06320 Steiner, in a paper entitled "Encouraging Active Student Participation in the Learning Process" (I),stated that it is important "to develop ways to increase active student thinking in the lecture hall." Not only do I agree with this, but also I think that his ideas about class discussions and lecture demonstrations, as well as his innovative suggestion for small group problem sessions, can he expanded and extrapolated into a teaching philosophy which is concerned with hoth the effective and efficient use of each 50-minute time period allotted for "lecture." This paper will present a basis for such a philosophy and offer some practical suggestions for the freshman chemistry instructor with, optimally, class section of not more than 25 oeonle. At present, this &ching phdosophy, which has been continually evolving, is hased on the follow~ngthree premises 1) The attention span for the average freshman student, or anyone for that matter, is considerably less than 50 minutes. 2) Time is precious. 3) The instructor's primary role is not that of a disseminator of in-
formation.
It is obvious that we can think much faster than we can speak. Because of this, i t is easy for a student's thoughts t o wander from time to time. In fact, a study by Schoen (2) showed that, at anv one time, only 62% of college sophomores in a psychology rlass were thinking about what the lecturer was saying or demonstrating. Another study by Cameron and Giuntoli ( 3 )found only 47T of a college class paying good attention to the lecturer a t any one time. The second premise was stated very clearly by a professor I once had in class. He said that the greatest sin that any person can commit against another, short of murder, is to waste someone else's time (4). We all have only a finite amount of time and it is. therefore. verv valuable. Obviously, an instructoi h& to disseminate some information. But, the third premise says that this is not his or her primary role. More important than providing information is organizing it, explaining it, motivating students to learn it, and in general facilitating the learning process. This includes directing that process, i.e., providing learning goals or in some way letting
