Indiana State University : CIRT : Teaching Tips

Getting Beyond the Information

Of course students need to have information before they can begin to apply it. Yet, too great an emphasis on information delivery can disrupt the learning process. Students can become bored and disinterested. They may be able to repeat ideas but not understand their value.

Learning psychologists claim that learners must go through an intellectual process before they will internalize new information. Teachers whose lessons facilitate this process are better able to engage students. Consider some of the following tips as ways to connect your lessons to the learning process. They are adapted from John Dewey.

Finding a Problem

Dewey argued that people consider changing the way they understand the world only when they perceive a problem they can't solve. When teachers can make students aware of problems that require a new way of thinking, they are likely to engage them in the learning process.

Problem Posing. A sensitively constructed story, case, or picture can be presented. Pose questions for students to describe the problem, concern, or questions that underlie the image you present. Ask how your scholarly skills could be used to understand this problem better.

Problem Solving. Present students with a problem or challenge that requires using course information to solve. Instead of repeating information in the reading, for example, give students a problem to solve that uses that information.

Keep problems specific and doable. Realistic problems tend to work better than school-like ones such as "What was the author's main point?" Check with Peter Wright (ITE) who has been leading ISU's involvement in an NSF funded "problem-based" pedagogy project.

Getting a Good Idea

The art of re-interpreting a problem using the language and logic of your discipline is the essence of scholarship. Show your students how to use what educator Debbie Meier called "habits of the mind."

Re-Analyze. After letting students describe their ideas or approach to a topic, ask them to try again using the terms from your lesson (or steps used in your discipline). I often create worksheets to guide this re-interpretation and would be glad to share them. Conclude by having students reflect on the different processes.

Steps. Give students some distinct steps to follow, time to practice, and ways to evaluate how well they are doing. Steps should be more basic and taught directly for beginners. Advanced students might be better discussing the steps that they commonly use.

Critical Thinking. Many critical thinking skills help students learn how to think about a problem better. Find a model you like and integrate it into your lesson. Rather than see it as extra work, students will appreciate having help figuring out good answers.

Getting Hooked

Testing out ideas is key to accepting them. When it looks like learning will lead to better solutions, learners are more likely to remember and use the ideas or habits discovered in class. Hook students by putting your ideas to the test.

Truth or Consequence. Ask students to describe the consequences of their conclusions. How would people's decisions be different with (or without) the insights they've developed? What would change if everyone believed these results? A few moments of written response or class discussion could make the point.

Examples. Have students collect examples of situations where people did (or did not) use the information or analytic skills covered in this lesson. What indications would students find of its value? (How would you know a cartoonist used classical literature . . . or a politician used art . . . or a waste management plant knew biology?)

A Real Test

Ideas are believable when they work. Asking students to go beyond abstract appreciation of an analysis to concrete experience of its worth is a vital step for learning that will last.

Try It. Create some opportunity for students to do something valuable using their new knowledge. Projects can be small or build all semester long. They work well when focused on an audience beyond the grade book.

Service Learning. Develop settings for putting theory into practice using service learning. Courses that weave together the classroom and the real world generate numerous points for reflecting on the contributions of good scholarly work to everyday lives. The CIRT will be glad to send you further information.

Action Research. Ask students to try applying a course idea and study the results carefully. Make reflection a part of the process through journals, class reports, or group discussions. Focus questions on how they can tell if the ideas have any impact.

Final Thoughts

Concentrating on course material builds students' repertoire of ideas. Yet, unless they are skilled in the other areas of the learning process, they may not be able to fold these new ideas into their thinking. Finding ways to help students through the stages of the learning process will greatly enhance the chances that the course information will last longer than the course.

Mary Ellen Weimer describes how teachers go through a learning process similar to that described above when they improve their pedagogy. We will send you a copy of her chapter if you are interested.