Thinking About Teaching and Learning: Developing Habits of Learning With First Year College and University Students

by Leamnson, Robert

• ISBN13: 9781579220136
• ISBN10: 1579220134
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-04-01
• Publisher: Stylus Pub Llc

Summary

Here is a compelling read for every teacher in higher education who wants to refresh or reexamine his or her classroom practice. Building on the insights offered by recent discoveries about the biological basis of learning, and on his own thought-provoking definitions of teaching, learning and education, the author proceeds to the practical details of instruction that teachers are most interested in--the things that make or break teaching. Practical and thoughtful, and based on forty years of teaching, wide reading and much reflection, Robert Leamnson provides teachers with a map to develop their own teaching philosophy, and effective nuts-and-bolts advice. His approach is particularly useful for those facing a cohort of first year students less prepared for college and university. He is concerned to develop in his students habits and skills that will equip them for a lifetime of learning. He is especially alert to the psychology of students. He also understands, and has experienced, the typical frustration and exasperation teachers feel when students ingeniously elude their teachers' loftiest goals and strategies. Most important, he has good advice about how to cope with the challenge. This guide will appeal to college teachers in all disciplines.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Thinking About Thinking About Teaching	1	(10)
How a philosophy of teaching develops and why it is important to have one
The Biological Basis of Learning	11	(12)
Learning as brain change, rather than brain use
Language	23	(10)
On the questionable utility of unexpressed ideas
Today's First-Year Students	33	(18)
Culture, motivation and preparation
Teaching and Pedagogy	51	(32)
How the way we teach affects the way students learn
The Classroom	83	(36)
The classroom as dynamic arena---What students are really doing
Writting and Other Technologies	119	(18)
Technology, old, and new, and as a means to an end
Final Thoughts	137	(16)
Reflections and ruminations
APPENDIX	153	(2)
Two sample assignment sheets
References	155	(6)
Annotated Bibliography	161	(4)
Index	165