Thinking About Teaching and Learning
This small book is an attempt by a long-time instructor in college
biology to "translate" some of the recent, concurrent, and developing
theories about how best to teach at the college level. The emphasis throughout
is on the particularly difficult job of teaching first year students in
moderately selective institutions. A serious attempt is made to use a vocabulary t
hat is commonly accepted in all fields of endeavor and to avoid as much as possible
privileged terms or expressions that admit to multiple interpretations. This book is
not a compendium of the many methods usually indicated by the expression "alternative
pedagogies." The author has been eclectic in the selection of classroom activities,
tending to emphasize those that have indeed been demonstrated to produce desirable
results. The topics addressed are: 1) Developing a Philosophy of Teaching, 2) The
Biological Basis of Learning, 3) Learning as Language Development, 4) Today's F
irst Year College Students, 5) Teaching and Pedagogy, 6) The Classroom, 7)
Writing and Other Technologies, 8) Some Thoughts on Trying to Do It All.
Further information can be had at:
Stylus Publishers.
The following brief review is by Mark Wasserman,
Professor of History, Rutgers University.
"Fascinating, compelling, sensible
and provocative. It has set me thinking--hard--about how I go about my job."
Last Updated On: 11/1/05
