Why the Strategy Works
In recent years the lecture has fallen on difficult times. Prominent
researchers have questioned its value, claiming it relies too heavily on auditory input and makes students passive recipients as opposed to active
learners. Yet, most of us have attended or delivered wonderful lectures that
have provided new insights or opened our minds to new worlds and new
possibilities. Without question, lectures can be potent instructional strategies, great for conveying a large amount of information in a short time.
New American Lecture (sometimes called Interactive Lecture) provides teachers with a strategic format for designing and delivering lectures. The earliest manifestations of the strategy can be found in the work
of David Ausubel (1963, 1968) whose theory of “meaningful verbal
learning” sets the groundwork for upgrading the lecture through an anticipatory set or “hook” and a clear, visual organizational structure. Since