Teaching for Understanding at University Deep Approaches and Distinctive Ways of Thinking

by Entwistle, Noel

• ISBN13: 9780333962985
• ISBN10: 0333962982
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-09-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

University Teaching and Student Learning draws on a wide range of research findings to provide an up-to-date guide to the main principles of teaching and the devlopment of students' understanding.

Author Biography

NOEL ENTWISTLE was the Bell Professor of Education at the University of Edinburgh for 25 years and now is Professor Emeritus. He has Honorary Degrees from the Universities of Gothenburg and Turku and an Oeuvre Award for outstanding research contributions from the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction. He is a past editor of the British Journal of Educational Psychology and Higher Education, and has an international reputation for his work in the field of student learning in higher education.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables	p. ix
Series Editors' Preface	p. xi
Author's Preface	p. xii
Acknowledgements for Tables and Figures	p. xiv
Teaching for Understanding in a Complex World	p. 1
Some initial propositions	p. 3
The relationship between teaching and learning	p. 3
The nature of educational research	p. 4
The structure of the book	p. 6
How Students Learn	p. 9
Educational Psychology and Student Learning	p. 11
Learning and the Influences on It	p. 13
Fundamental processes of learning	p. 13
Practice and feedback	p. 13
Attention and memory	p. 14
Conceptual development	p. 14
Rote and meaningful learning	p. 16
Learning processes in studying	p. 16
Influences on learning	p. 18
Previous knowledge and experience	p. 18
Abilities and learning styles	p. 19
Personality and motivation	p. 20
Thinking dispositions	p. 21
An alternative research paradigm	p. 22
Concluding summary	p. 23
The Impact of Approaches to Learning	p. 25
How Students Learn and Study	p. 28
Concepts describing student learning	p. 28
Identity and self-confidence	p. 28
Personal and vocational aspirations	p. 30
Conceptions of knowledge and learning	p. 30
Approaches to learning	p. 33
Organized effort	p. 37
Cultural differences in learning and studying	p. 39
Students with disabilities	p. 40
Concluding summary	p. 40
What is Learned	p. 43
Understanding Understanding - Or Do We?	p. 45
The Nature of Academic Understanding	p. 48
Personal understanding	p. 48
Experience of developing and reaching an understanding	p. 49
The disposition to understand for oneself	p. 50
The construction and use of knowledge objects	p. 52
Making understanding visible through concepts maps	p. 54
Integrative personal understandings	p. 56
Target understanding across the disciplines	p. 57
Electronic engineering	p. 59
Biological sciences	p. 60
Economics	p. 61
History	p. 62
Media and communication studies	p. 63
Threshold concepts	p. 65
Concluding summary	p. 66
How Academics Teach	p. 69
Evolving Approaches to Teaching	p. 71
Ideas about Teaching and Learning	p. 74
Understanding pedagogy	p. 74
Contrasting beliefs and approaches	p. 74
The role of the university teacher	p. 78
What makes a good university teacher?	p. 78
Coping with contrasting roles and working within constraints	p. 81
Students' experiences of teaching	p. 82
Perceptions of lecturing	p. 82
Perceptions of discussion classes	p. 84
Perceptions of set work and assessment	p. 85
National reviews of teaching quality	p. 87
Concluding summary	p. 87
Teaching for Personal Understanding	p. 90
Research into Teaching for Understanding	p. 92
The inner logic of the subject and its pedagogy	p. 92
Examples of subject-specific teaching focused on understanding	p. 95
Encouraging a deep approach to problem solving in electronic engineering	p. 95
Establishing the critical features of a concept in computer studies	p. 96
Helping students to understand threshold concepts in economics	p. 97
Using concept maps to develop integrative understanding in history	p. 99
The teaching-learning environment as a whole	p. 101
Congruence within a teaching-learning environment	p. 103
Examples of whole teaching-learning environments supporting understanding	p. 103
Teaching for understanding	p. 103
Powerful learning environments	p. 105
Designing a whole curriculum to encourage deep approaches	p. 106
Concluding summary	p. 107
Providing Teaching and Assessment to Support Learning	p. 111
A Heuristic Model of Teaching and Learning	p. 113
Research Guiding Teaching	p. 117
Student characteristics influencing learning	p. 117
Subject content and how it is taught	p. 118
Planning a course	p. 120
Beliefs about the role of the teacher	p. 120
Thinking about the subject and its pedagogy	p. 121
Target understanding and throughlines	p. 122
Selection and organization of course content	p. 124
Teaching that encourages thinking and understanding	p. 125
Giving an overview and monitoring delivery	p. 125
Arousing interest, explaining terms and encouraging understanding	p. 127
Exemplifying ways of thinking and practising	p. 131
Emphasizing critical features and patterns of variation	p. 132
Encouraging individual reflection and group discussion	p. 134
Being alert while teaching and showing empathy with students	p. 135
Technological aids, e-learning and blended learning	p. 137
Concluding summary	p. 139
Assessment the driver, but in which Direction?	p. 144
Influences of the Learning Environment	p. 147
Institutional and departmental influences	p. 147
Teaching and learning cultures within course teams	p. 150
Course structure, organization and management	p. 151
Allocation of set work and feedback on it	p. 153
Formative and summative assessment	p. 157
Varieties of assessment	p. 159
Effects of assessment of study strategies	p. 161
Support for individual learning and studying	p. 161
Concluding summary	p. 162
Monitoring the Effectiveness of Teaching	p. 167
Measuring Students' Approaches and Perceptions	p. 169
Monitoring and Developing Teaching	p. 172
An evaluation questionnaire to monitor teaching	p. 172
Interviews to explore student learning	p. 174
Investigating the effectiveness of teaching	p. 177
Encouraging teaching development	p. 181
The scholarship of teaching	p. 184
Appendices	p. 188
Index	p. 200
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