I f you walk into Eric Mazur's Harvard physics class at the wrong time, you may think you're in a lounge instead of a lecture hall. Students argue furiously. His students are arguing about physics.
Students record their answers and the arguments begin.
After a few minutes, the question is put back up. Freshly convinced students record their answers in a second round of testing. In 1995, the ConcepTest System was chosen to be included in NSF's Profiles of Innovative Projects, a booklet highlighting 50 of NSF's education ventures. Developed with the help of a 1993 grant from NSF's Division of Undergraduate Education, ConcepTest is now widely distributed through seminars, workshops and Mazur's Web page. What ConcepTest accomplishes, says Mazur, is getting students to stop memorizing and start thinking.