Category: The Art and Science of Teaching and Learning

Articles about pedagogy and practice

ATTENTION IN THE DIGITAL AGE: Revisiting the critical issues posed by cellphones in the university classroom

Celia Ann Evans on

– content contributed by TA consultant Saif Siddique, PhD candidate Material Science and Engineering, Cornell University Attention… “… is the taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration, of consciousness are of its essence.”             … Continue Reading ATTENTION IN THE DIGITAL AGE: Revisiting the critical issues posed by cellphones in the university classroom

Supporting our International Graduate Students in Their Teaching Roles

Wenjing Luo on

With increasing global mobility, international teaching assistants (ITA) are now a major part of the workforce in higher education institutes in the U.S. In 2020 National Science Foundation reported that 29% of science and engineering faculty were ‘foreign born’ and this same demographic received 6 out of 10 doctoral degrees in engineering, math and computer… Continue Reading Supporting our International Graduate Students in Their Teaching Roles

Recognizing and Requesting Transparency in the College Classroom

Celia Ann Evans on

Black boxes are useful in a model system or the research we do as we work to understand the world.  In those cases, the ‘unknowns’ are exciting and they represent what we are working to ‘know’.  However, when it comes to what is expected of you as a learner in your classes, there should NOT… Continue Reading Recognizing and Requesting Transparency in the College Classroom

Do well on finals AND retain knowledge: Strategies for short and long-term success

Celia Ann Evans on

Many of us have experienced that doing well on an exam, may not mean all that information we used to successfully answer the questions on the test is retained. Both remembering and forgetting are physiological processes likely driven by the need to prioritize bits of the massive amount of information to which we are exposed.… Continue Reading Do well on finals AND retain knowledge: Strategies for short and long-term success

USING THE METACOGNITIVE CYCLE TO TURN ‘PROBLEM SETS’ INTO ‘STUDY SESSIONS’

Celia Ann Evans on

After a fun and productive meeting with a couple of our undergraduate educators in my office last week, we shifted gears and started to talk about how very busy their own semesters were.  One of them confided that they were committed to getting a good night’s sleep (Bravo!), and they had time for doing homework… Continue Reading USING THE METACOGNITIVE CYCLE TO TURN ‘PROBLEM SETS’ INTO ‘STUDY SESSIONS’

Cognitive and Affective Domains: Critical parallels for effective teaching

Celia Ann Evans on

The Cognitive Domain – Learning as a hierarchy of increasingly difficult cognitive work Educators use Bloom’s Taxonomy to think about and scaffold the degree of cognitive difficulty in courses and for helping to design activities and assignments appropriate to learning expectations. Cognitive challenge increases as we move ‘up’ the pyramid from ‘remember’ toward the pinnacle… Continue Reading Cognitive and Affective Domains: Critical parallels for effective teaching

‘Just-in-time facilitating’: Tips for unpacking problems and guiding collaboration in STEM-focused groupwork

Celia Ann Evans on

If you are teaching a topic, it is likely that you have a high level of preparedness, intuition, and ability that has been developed beyond the level of many of your learners. Unpacking a complex problem into logical steps, assessing what information is necessary to begin and move forward, and understanding what constitutes a ‘reasonable’… Continue Reading ‘Just-in-time facilitating’: Tips for unpacking problems and guiding collaboration in STEM-focused groupwork

Heading ‘Back to the Future’ of the Classroom not ‘Back to Normal’: Reflections on opportunities to benefit from our online experience

Celia Ann Evans on

Ready or not! Here we go, back into the classroom! Back to teaching in physical spaces where we can see each other by simply turning our heads or wandering over to a corner of the room to offer needed support or direction, rather than popping in and out of Zoom breakout rooms like Samantha on… Continue Reading Heading ‘Back to the Future’ of the Classroom not ‘Back to Normal’: Reflections on opportunities to benefit from our online experience

Becoming Teachers: Engineering graduate students reflect on their diverse professional journeys at Cornell

Doğa Yücalan, Jason Chang, Colleen Lawlor and Thais Campos de Almeida on

Prologue Teaching is a calling. It’s a calling that can be awakened at different points in one’s experience. But once awakened; evidence-based teaching practices must be cultivated. Part art and mostly science, the research that informs the best teaching practices is as wide and diverse as any. When a passion for teaching finds itself lodged… Continue Reading Becoming Teachers: Engineering graduate students reflect on their diverse professional journeys at Cornell

WISDOM FROM UNDERGRAD PEER EDUCATORS: Hard-won tips for online teaching

Celia Ann Evans on

One and a half semesters of mostly online teaching down, and at least one more to go in this COVID-altered academic world. As a growing part of the team supporting student learning outcomes, undergraduate peer educators have worked very hard, received training, and honed their skills as facilitators of engaged, compassionate, and student-centered online learning. … Continue Reading WISDOM FROM UNDERGRAD PEER EDUCATORS: Hard-won tips for online teaching