Using Peer Instruction to Teach Philosophy, Logic, and Critical Thinking

Abstract

Background: Lectures are (mostly) rubbishTeaching lectures is, by and large, a frustrating experience.Although we all try to craft our lectures to be gems of clarity, wit, and wisdom, it is a common experience to find that the audience, apart from one or two very bright or confident students, are extremely unresponsive and evidently much less inspired than they ought to be.What is missing?Most crucially, it is interaction and other forms of active engagement with the material.Indeed, there is an emerging consensus in higher education research that the traditional lecture is of very little value as a method of teaching.(