Podcast #34: Nine Teaching Questions: Part One

In the first of a special two-part episode, we reflect on what we’ve learned from the podcast about nine key questions all faculty face. In this episode we focus on the curriculum: what to teach, in what order, and how to adjust the teaching to the learner. We include lots of choice quotes from previous guests, so this is a great starting point for those new to the podcast.

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Show Notes

0:00 ⏯ Intro

0:39 ⏯ A very special episode that comes with a handy-dandy wall chart

2:33 ⏯ A preview of the five curriculum questions

4:51 ⏯ You only need to focus on one or two things.

7:41 ⏯ Ch-ch-changes for Edward and Doug.

10:12 ⏯ Question 1. How do you see the discipline? (Answers vs. Questions)

12:13 ⏯ Geoff Connors focusing on questions.

14:47 ⏯ Although the students were silent, Donald Kagan’s lectures were still dialogues.

18:15 ⏯ Olav Sorenson goes Socratic.

22:31 ⏯ Supporting ambiguity tolerance.

23:43 ⏯ Question 2. How do you see the students’ learning? (Cognition vs. Metacognition)

25:23 ⏯ Michael Honsberger on teaching metacognition.

28:17 ⏯ Carla Horowitz’s advisor tells her: You’re bad at this.

30:30 ⏯ The method can be part of the topic.

31:33 ⏯ Larry Samuelson and Frank Robinson on helping students learn how to study.

34:11 ⏯ Question 3. How do you see the discipline’s knowledge? (Objectivity vs. Agency)

36:15 ⏯ Donald Kagan on history, Larry Sameulson on models, Peter Salovey on experiments.

43:32 ⏯ Lynn Regan’s “Vendors and Clients” game. Laurie Santos asks students to design their own experiments. Michael Faison on students doing real science.

49:17 ⏯ Question 4. Where do you start? (Atoms vs Universes)

49:34 ⏯ Peter Salovey on lecturing about the big picture.

51:45 ⏯ Frank Robinson: what do you want them NOT to forget?

52:59 ⏯ Sales pitches for the discipline: Larry Samuelson and Lori Santos.

55:35 ⏯ Jonathan Holloway: finding out about what’s ‘too basic.’ and learning how to lecture.

59:53 ⏯ Question 5. How hard should learning be?

2:29 ⏯ Ken Starr on difficulty and oral midterms.

4:33 ⏯ Frank Robinson on giving hard problems.

5:57 ⏯ Michael Faison on teaching students at different levels

1:07:53 ⏯ Signoff.