I’m searching for something in an old issue of The Teaching Professor, wishing along the way that we’d done a better job of indexing content in the newsletter but rediscovering all sorts of good things that I’ve forgotten. Case in point: here’s a great quote about examples.

It’s the week for being thankful, and I’m thinking gratefully about my pedagogical colleagues—those faculty friends and compatriots with whom I can talk teaching.

Can we teach in ways that develop students’ commitment to ongoing, lifelong learning? Yes, say the researchers listed below whose study explored curricular conditions and educational practices that influence the development of a lifelong learning orientation.

I am pleased to announce the Second Annual McGraw-Hill and Magna Publications Award for Scholarly Work on Teaching and Learning. You’ll find all the details on The Teaching Professor website (www.teachingprofessor.com), including how to submit pieces (your work and that of others), the selection criteria, and the review process. In case you’ve forgotten, a $1,000 award goes to the author or is shared by authors of the winning article, which will be announced at the 2010 Teaching Professor Conference.

Now here’s a good idea—developed and used in a large, nonmajors chemistry course. In groups of four, students worked on the development of “a current or historical idea in the field of chemistry.” (p.35) The teacher helped by suggesting potential topics such as chemical bonding and the law of the conversion of matter. Based on their interests, students developed a short proposal for their topic. In it they addressed how they planned to limit the topic. After work had started on the project, students submitted an outline describing how they were going to address the various parts of the assignment (which are explained in the article). This enabled the teacher to provide the group feedback on their progress early in the process.

In their review of literature section, the researchers listed below summarize findings from a number of studies regarding student questions. “It is well documented that student questions in the classroom are very infrequent and unsophisticated.” Averages reported in six different studies range from 1.3 questions per hour to 4.0. According to this research, teachers ask many more questions than students do—perhaps that’s to be expected, but should 96 percent of the questions asked in the classroom be teacher questions?

More than half way through a course you don’t really you have time or the inclination to consider your teaching manifesto—that is, what you believe about teaching and how you realize those beliefs in your practice. But as the demands of the semester start to mount, it can be energizing to read what others believe, especially when their beliefs about the importance and value of teaching are strong and positive. Here are several excerpts from a “this I believe” statement written by C. Roland Christensen:

A recent study published in the Journal of College Science Teaching found that poor students did not attend optional help sessions scheduled just prior to three exams in an introductory biology course. I didn’t find the results surprising, and I’m thinking you won’t either. Typically it’s the best students who show up for review sessions (just like it’s often the best teachers who come to the teaching workshops). There is no need to excoriate them for showing up—they are good students because they take advantage of opportunities that help them learn the material.

In a chapter on discussion written by a teacher recognized as a master of the discussion technique, C. Roland Christensen walks us through the options a teacher has when figuring out how to respond to a student's answer. He uses a “decision tree” (developed by systems researchers) to help him sort through the various options.