Category: Research about Teaching

Maryellen Weimer at 2011 Presidents’ Colloquium – Trevor Holmes

Annually, Waterloo’s two presidents (the President, and the Faculty Association President) host a special guest on campus to talk about teaching and learning. These guests are recognized specialists in some branch or another of higher education. This year we are honoured to hear from Maryellen Weimer, whom I’ve hosted in other settings and with whom I’ve been lucky enough to spend time at teaching conferences. Dr. Weimer is the long-time editor of the Teaching Professor Newsletter, and has also published books about pedagogical scholarship, learner-centered teaching, and techniques for instructional improvement. She manages both to be generously humane and caustically funny (sometimes in the same breath). Last time we spoke, I recall a debate erupting about why she rejected the “Scholarship of Teaching and Learning” (SoTL) label in favour of “pedagogical scholarship”; and yet she has been invited to speak at a SoTL conference about SoTL work. I’ll be very curious to hear how she frames this more defined field of study now that its name and practices have become somewhat more solidified by way of journals, professional organisations, and books.

Can Scholarly Work on Teaching and Learning Actually Improve my Teaching?
Presidents’ Colloquium: Opening Keynote: Dr. Maryellen Weimer

“Books, journals, and articles on teaching and learning date back to the early 1900s – some even before that. All these materials have one thing in common: few educators read them. What can be learned from this literature? Is research a useful resource faculty need for self-improvement as teachers? Are fellow teachers the ones best suited to research and write about teaching and learning? How is this pedagogical scholarship alike and different from discipline-based research? In this keynote, Maryellen Weimer explores answers to these questions. Whether engaging in a thoughtful reflection of classroom experience or an empirical endeavour that answers a pragmatic question, post-secondary teachers can use the scholarship of colleagues not only to enlarge their understanding of teaching and learning, but also to increase their effectiveness in the classroom. Illustrative examples will offer a range of new ideas, interesting findings, and provocative points to consider.”

Please join us for the Presidents’ Colloquium April 27 2011 in Hagey Hall 1101 (the new wing of Hagey). No registration required for this special keynote event (a free and open part of the longer Opportunities and New Directions Conference, for which registration is required — we can still take a few more people for OND if you are interested!).

The Socratic Scientist – Marcel Pinheiro

Though the togas and sandals have largely been left in the past, Socrates’ method of education is one that would be revolutionary in the modern science class. The Socratic method is, at its simplest, questions and discussion. But, as described by award-winning Stanford Professor Rob Reich, it is “emphatically not teaching.” Rather than providing information, an instructor instead participates in a discussion with students about the material. To begin, an instructor’s carefully crafted, open-ended question is asked and the students provide their answers; sometimes, only best guesses. An example question in biology could be what is a gene? or how do we define a species? But any answer provided by the students merely starts the discussion. The role of the instructor is to tactfully ask probing questions of the students to frame and support their understanding of the topic. 

In this way, it may be considered more akin to our own scientific method, where a series of questions and follow-up questions probe the student’s understanding of the topic as it flows from the group, and their peers try to defend their answers.  By teasing out misunderstanding or misconceptions held by a group, they journey together through logic, the literature, and past scientific discoveries to unveil the answer to the problem at hand.

The result is less time spent in lecture covering material readily available to the student in their textbook, and more time dedicated to understanding concepts, and the underlying science to solve problems. Consequently, prior to participating in class discussion, students must have some familiarity with the material, even if it is rudimentary. With class time now dedicated to discussion, it is necessary to let go of the idea that material needs to be explicitly transmitted from textbook to student via the power point slide. Instead, assign readings or assignments – expecting them to actually be done! Ultimately, Socratic method provides students with a forum to develop and test critical thinking skills, and a paradigm-shifting opportunity, inspired by the original gadfly, to take responsibility for their own education.

Socratic method is commonplace in law and medical schools, yet is relegated to only holding untapped potential for the science classroom to demonstrate complexity. When asked specifically on application to science instruction Prof. Reich noted that Socratic method excels at uncovering “underlying structures or competing hypothesis about how to explain certain events.” But as a tool for an instructor, the entire process rests on creating an environment that encourages students to participate in discussion. In many cases these open-ended questions do not have absolute answers – like many research problems in general. Thus, students must be encouraged to take risks and provide responses to questions they may be unsure of, and even the “crazy idea” can take the discussion in thought-provoking ways, which tests the limit of their ignorance.

The thought of three hundred students all trying to provide their opinion or conversely (and more common-place in the average science class), staring at the well-meaning instructor in silence, may seem inevitable. The truth, however, is that Socratic method may be adapted to function in a large group with little effort. One of the simplest methods is the use of small (3-9 student) break-out groups. After asking a question and before opening the floor to the group at large, the instructor can ask students to discuss their thoughts with a small number of students surrounding them. This prevents timid students from having to stand out in the large group, while also building confidence. One pitfall is the freedom it gives students – an instructor must allow the discussion to explore tangents when addressing a question, but must recognize when to ease the discussion back on track.

Probing questions are the main tool in the instructor’s arsenal to move the discussion forward, and there are a number of types of probing questions. Generally, these probing questions target either the student’s definition of terms, assumptions underlying their answer, or extensions from their conclusions – with best results when taken to the extreme! Using elements of the Socratic method when teaching is a step away from the overuse of rote memorization, commonplace in large lecture classes, and has powerful advantages in developing critical thinking and confidence.

Avoiding the single-answer memory recall (or “jeopardy”) questions in favour of a more thought-provoking one, the instructor sends their students on a path towards becoming well informed citizens (if not scientists). The resulting students are primed to critically form opinions on anything from vaccinations to global warming. Not providing students a regular forum to question their understanding of the material begs the question, what are we teaching our science students to do?

Resources on Socratic teaching:

Rob Reich, “The Socratic Method: What it is and how to use it in the classroom” May 2003. 

MacKnight, C.B. (2000). Teaching Critical Thinking through Online Discussions. Educause Quarterly 4:38-41.

Marcel Pinheiro is a PhD candidate in the Department of Biology and participant in the Certificate in University Teaching (CUT) Program.

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The Centre for Teaching Excellence welcomes contributions to its blog. If you are a faculty member, staff member, or student at the University of Waterloo (or beyond!) and would like contribute a posting about some aspect of teaching or learning, please contact Mark Morton or Trevor Holmes.

How Learning Works — Jane Holbrook

Paul blogged on Tuesday about a recent visitor to our campus, John Mighton, and recommended his book, “The End of Ignorance”. I’m going to continue the trend this week by suggesting another book, one that I’m finding really helpful. I became aware of it through the POD listserv (Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education) and I received it recently as an interlibrary loan. We need a copy of this on our campus; I’m finding it to be an excellent resource. Continue reading How Learning Works — Jane Holbrook

The High Cost of Intellectual Poverty: How Myths About Intelligence and Talent are Slowing Human Progress, 2010 Hagey Lecture by Dr. John Mighton – Paul Kates

We had the pleasure of two fine speakers last week at UW, John Mighton and Eric Mazur.  Both had a good deal to say about what they discovered while teaching.  You can read about Professor Mazur’s talk Memorization or Understanding: are we teaching the right thing? in a recent posting on this site.  Today I’ll spend time with Dr. John Mighton, mathematician, playwright, author and founder of JUMP (Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies, grades 1-8). Continue reading The High Cost of Intellectual Poverty: How Myths About Intelligence and Talent are Slowing Human Progress, 2010 Hagey Lecture by Dr. John Mighton – Paul Kates

Eric Mazur to visit Waterloo campus – Trevor Holmes

Renowned physics education pioneer Eric Mazur will be at Waterloo Dec 1 2010. Before there were clickers, before there was a “Force Concept Inventory,” Mazur was developing “interactive engagement” or peer instruction (see a two-minute video here).

The talk is co-sponsored by Physics and Astronomy and the Centre for Teaching Excellence. Here’s the ad: Continue reading Eric Mazur to visit Waterloo campus – Trevor Holmes

On Lecture Capture and Talking Heads… – Scott Anderson

Talking Head Machine
Image from Laputan Logic

At the end of last week, I attended a conference on blended learning (essentially integrating face-to-face and online activities in an instructionally sound way, though there’s debate about whether it entails a reduction of face-to-face time).

One presentation that stood out for me was one about lecture capture at Queen’s University, something we’ve been experimenting with here at Waterloo. Essentially they’re capturing live lectures on video using automated mechanisms and then making the video available to students online. Continue reading On Lecture Capture and Talking Heads… – Scott Anderson

Fonts of Wisdom: Difficult Typefaces Cause Better Learning — Mark Morton

I have a friend who is a graphic designer, and he specializes in creating typefaces: a new typeface, he tells me, can take a year to design if it’s done right, which means making it work both in term of aesthetics and functionality. In other words, it needs to be both beautiful and easy to read. A new study coming out Princeton, however, suggests that easy to read typefaces might have an unintended effect: they allow you read so quickly, that your comprehension — your decoding of the meaning — can’t keep up with your eyes. Continue reading Fonts of Wisdom: Difficult Typefaces Cause Better Learning — Mark Morton