With entry-level courses in science and math plagued with high failure and drop rates, some colleges and universities are trying to shake things up a bit. They’ve done away with the standard lecture class headed by one droning professor and filled with hundreds of bored freshmen and sophomores. Instead, the professor runs up and down the lecture hall aisles, shoving a microphone in front of students’ faces ad looking for an answer. Several times a period, she’ll ask the students to split into groups to work on a problem. It’s all designed to keep the students not only awake, but engaged.

While this approach is fairly new, the results are encouraging. At the University of Colorado, academic observers report that scores in science have improved by 50 percent.

That doesn’t mean a host of colleges or universities are hopping on the bandwagon. Big institutions are more concerned about research and collecting the resulting research grants: Teaching becomes an afterthought, and some observers believe universities are notoriously reticent to change their ways.

“Faculty don’t like being told what to do, and there are people who push back and say they can figure it out on their own and they know what works for them,” says Noah Finkelstein, who directs CU’s education overhaul efforts. “There’s plenty of data that says they’re mistaken.” (New York Times)

Paul Asay has written for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for PluggedIn and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He recently collaborated with Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, on his book The Good Dad. He lives in Colorado Springs with wife, Wendy, and his two children. Check out his entertainment blog or follow him on Twitter.