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Great Teaching Is Like an Onion

2017; Wiley; Volume: 16; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/1541-4329.12109

1541-4329

Shelly J. Schmidt,

Educational and Psychological Assessments

I must admit, my comparison of great teaching to an onion was inspired by a quote from the movie Shrek (2001). Shrek told Donkey that “Ogres are like onions.” Now, the math-minded reader might quickly come to the conclusion that, based on the transitive property of equality (if a = b and b = c, then a = c), great teachers are like Ogres, but that is not my point. Rather, my point is that great teaching, like Shrek's personality, has many layers. One layer of great teaching, and the one that usually comes to mind first, is that great teachers implement best, research-based teaching practices to enhance student learning. One example of a successful, research-based teaching practice is the use of active learning. Active learning transforms students from passive to active learners. As captured by the quote from Chickering and Gamson (1987), “Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just sitting in class listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, relate it to past experiences, apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves” [italics added]. Another layer of great teaching, which we have been exploring in a number of previous JFSE editorials, is that great teachers prepare their students for learning by sharing with them best, research-based learning practices. For example, an effective learning strategy is spaced, retrieval practice (Brown and others 2014). Instead of waiting to start studying a day or two before the exam (termed massed practice or, more affectionately, cramming), students need to study the material on a regular, ongoing basis, leaving time between retrieval practice sessions for enhanced, long-term retention. Recently, I was reminded of yet another layer of great teaching1—one that is just as important, if not more important, than the others. Great teachers both harness and embrace the relationship between emotion and learning by putting into practice best, research-based emotional development practices.2 I first remember encountering the scientific basis of the importance of the emotion layer of great teaching while reading the book “The Art of Changing the Brain” by Zull (2002). After explaining the overall arrangement of the brain and the importance of balance in the brain between receiving knowledge and using knowledge for learning, Zull went on to say, “But we are missing one key element, perhaps the most important part. We still need the mortar that holds everything together, and that mortar is emotion” (p. 45). Emotion is pretty important stuff, I'd say! So let's take a deep dive into the emotion layer of great teaching. The connection between emotion and learning (cognition) is both primal and exceedingly powerful. The primal aspect of the connection is related to the evolutionary development of the human brain. The parts of the brain associated with emotion or mood (collectively termed the limbic system, including structures such as the hypothalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala) are thought to be the oldest or most primordial parts of the human brain; whereas, the cerebrum (which is located above the limbic system) is the largest and newest part of the brain and is associated with cognition or thinking (Sylwester 1994, Zull 2002 and 2004, Rayner 2016). The exceedingly powerful aspect of the connection between emotion and cognition lies in the intimate relationship between these two parts of the brain, as described by Zull (2004), “The thinking part of our brain evolved through entanglement with older parts that we now know are involved in emotion and feelings. Emotion and thought are physically entangled –immensely so. This brings our body into the story because we feel our emotions in our body, and the way we feel always influences our brain.” Thus, we can confidently say that emotion is fundamental to learning (Hinton and others 2008, Immordino-Yang 2016, Desautels 2016). As expressed by Desautels (2016), “We need all of our emotions for thinking, problem solving, and focused attention. We are neurobiologically wired, and to learn anything, our minds must be focused and our emotions need to "feel" in balance. Emotional regulation is necessary so that we can remember, retrieve, transfer, and connect all new information to what we already know. When a continuous stream of negative emotions hijacks our frontal lobes, our brain's architecture changes, leaving us in a heightened stress-response state where fear, anger, anxiety, frustration, and sadness take over our thinking, logical brains.” Thus, it is reasonable to conclude, as Hinton and others (2008) did, “instruction that neglects the emotional dimensions of learning is likely to be ineffective.” So what emotional dimensions of learning can teachers put into practice? Though this is a bigger question than can be tackled in one editorial, we can get started by looking into a couple of effective emotional development practices. The book “Emotions, Learning, and the Brain: Exploring the Educational Implications of Affective Neuroscience” by Mary Helen Immordino-Yang (2016) has much to offer in regards to this practice. According to Dr. Immordino-Yang, it is “literally neurobiologically impossible to think deeply about things that you don't care about” (Lahey 2016). This is true even for subjects that are considered unemotional, such as physics, engineering, and math – deep understanding still depends on making emotional connections between concepts (Immordino-Yang 2016). Unfortunately, the powerful relationship between emotion and learning is often underestimated and overlooked, especially in the higher education classroom. So how can we help our students become emotionally invested in the material? One idea is to begin class with engaging, real-world applications of the topic that spark students’ interest and hook them into wanting to know more (Inductive teaching approach, see Prince and Felder 2007). These applications could take a variety of forms, such as recent news stories, demonstrations, video clips, interviews with experts in the field, newly developed products, or historical developments and perspectives, to name a few. Work on making the emotional connection first, and then teach them the underlying theory. Often times, however, teachers take the opposite approach (Deductive teaching approach). We start class with the theory and work our way toward the applications – thinking, perhaps, that the students will understand and appreciate the applications more once they are grounded in the theory. This is typically not the case. Perhaps the most effective strategy would be to sandwich the theory between real-world applications. A related idea is to introduce a real-world problem to the class before delving into the nuts and bolts of how to solve it. This approach, termed generation, gets the students curious about the problem, as well as the tools they will need to solve it. Another simple yet effective approach teachers can do to attract student attention is to frame the topics they teach as “beautiful questions,” rather than a list of academic words or phrases. This idea is based on the book entitled “A More Beautiful Question” by Berger (2014). For example, what is more appealing – to see that you will be learning about simple and complex carbohydrates or that you will be discovering the answers to questions like: Added sugars, are they really bad for you? Or High intensity sweeteners – fake sugars that cause cancer, or a dieter's best friend? Or From providing sweet taste to thickening your salad dressing, what's the secret behind carbohydrate functionality? Okay, so some of these questions sound like news headlines – but news headlines get people reading, and isn't that what we want are students to do? Yet another idea is to allow our students to have a say in the topics that will be discussed during the semester. Giving students some control over course content should enhance their investment and connection to the material. Dr. Dawn Bohn, an Assistant Professor of Teaching at the Univ. of Illinois, uses a Hot Topic Card approach to obtaining students’ input on course content (Bohn 2009). Dr. Bohn passes out pre-printed, index size cards to the students on the first day of class asking them to describe a hot topic related to the food industry that they would like to learn more about during the semester. If a topic is not already part of the course, as time permits, Dr. Bohn weaves the students’ topics into the appropriate section of the course, helping students both drive the direction of the course and feel more engaged in the learning process. Another means of soliciting students’ input on course content is to have students create infographics at the beginning of a semester about topics they are interested in learning more about related to the subject of the course. In this way, students are creating and contributing content to the course that they find interesting. An Infographics Gallery with blogging capabilities can be set up on the course website, facilitating both student-teacher and student-student interactions. To help students get a sense of effective infographic design, direct them to the website Compound Interest by Andy Brunning (2017), a high school chemistry teacher in the U.K. In addition to the use of striking visual elements, his infographics on everyday chemistry often contain compelling questions. For example, Brunning's infographic on the chemistry of chocolate poses two questions (Fulton 2014): 1) Is chocolate an aphrodisiac? and 2) Why is chocolate toxic to dogs? Despite the presence of three chemical structures that appear on the infographic, these questions draw people in and, as discussed above, make them want to learn more – two behaviors we want to replicate in our students! They say one of the best forms of advertising is word of mouth. Think about it, when we have a great experience with a product, a place, or a person, we enthusiastically tell those around us about it. We can't seem to help ourselves. The same is true in regards to learning – if we are enthusiastic about our subject matter, then that enthusiasm will come pouring forth. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true, if we find the material boring, so will our students. One simple, but effective, thing we can do is share with our students how we got interested in the subject matter. Take time to tell them a story about who or what influenced you. And don't forget to take time out and write a thank you note to those you mention in your story – most likely it was their enthusiasm and passion that hooked you! When we enthusiastically share our passion for our subject matter (which is often our life's work) with our students, we extend an invitation to them to join us on our journey of life-long learning – an invitation that is hard to pass up! Enthusiasm is contagious—see if you can pass yours on! Though the few practices I've shared are only the tip of the iceberg, I hope they are catalytic in helping us to dream about how can we effectively harness and embrace the power of emotion to help our students learn more. As expressed in an interview of Dr. Immordino-Yang (Lahey 2016), “Great teachers understand that the best, most durable learning happens when content sparks interest, when it is relevant to a child's life, and when the students form an emotional bond with either the subject at hand or the teacher in front of them. Meaningful learning happens when teachers are able to create an emotional connection to what might otherwise remain abstract concepts, ideas, or skills.”