Enabling Learning...

I believe that learning is not created in the lecture, in the laboratory, or even by the teacher. Rather learning is created, uniquely, in the mind of the learner. A student cannot learn what he or she is not ready to learn, no matter what a teacher may do. On the other hand, students that are ready can learn almost irregardless of how they acquire that information.

At first glance this may seem to marginalize the role of the teacher. On the contrary, however, this leads to a different concept of an instructor, not as someone who dispenses knowledge, but rather as someone who creates an environment where each student can best encounter and assimilate information into his or her own understanding.

I have several goals in teaching. First, I want to give students a basic understanding of the subject matter, including knowledge of facts but emphasizing the framework of the discipline as a whole within which individual information can be placed. Without the framework, individual information is lost, whereas once the framework is in place, new information can be incorporated as it is encountered - even after the course is over. I want my students to have an understanding of how we know what we know about physics and astronomy, and to develop a critical faculty that allows them to evaluate new ideas in the field. In addition, I would like them to be able to apply this critical faculty and understanding of scientific evidence to other areas of learning and experience - to increase their use of critical analysis in all areas of their life where they must evaluate and choose between viewpoints.

How can I achieve these goals if I believe I cannot make a student learn or think anything they do not wish to? By providing an environment where each student can encounter new information, practice the skills I want to encourage, and explore the ideas and viewpoints I want to promote. In this process I see myself as a ``learning coach,'' and the students as active partners in the learning process. And, while each student must arrive at an individual understanding of the material, they can also help and support each other in the process. Sharing their newly acquired comprehension of the material with each other will deepen their own understanding and confidence.

The first task of a teacher is to provide access to knowledge. This should be done through a combination of readings at the level of an appropriate textbook. I would expect the readings to be done before class, however, so that the lectures can be used to explore the overall concepts and framework of the field within which facts and skills will be placed, and for responding to the understanding and needs of the students. Time in class must also be given for the students to practice critical thinking and to share and test their understanding with each other. I will model this aspect of the class on the ConcepTests and teaching structure pioneered by Harvard physicist Eric Mazur.

A teacher must also provide an environment where students feel comfortable learning and asking questions that augment their understanding of readings and basic facts. I believe the best way to do this is to eliminate to the greatest extent possible the hierarchy of professor versus student, and to build the self confidence of the students in their understanding and ability to learn. This presents different challenges in classes of different sizes and levels - a hundred person lecture class cannot be run effectively if every student asks every questions that might occur to them. But the ideal of students actively pursuing their own learning and directing the progress of the course should be kept in mind for all courses, not just small upper level seminars.

I believe that there are many ways of effectively assessing the progress of my students, and that creative use of different assessments is important to the progress of the class and to improving my own performance as a teacher. In a real sense, I believe we 'get what we measure,' so assessments should be designed carefully to give feedback and to test for the skills and understanding I want my students to acquire. If a student is the one doing the learning, he or she will focus on what I show them is important - by putting it on a test. Therefore I would use a variety of assessment tools, depending on the class size and level, to probe the understanding of the class, and to encourage active participation of the students. In smaller classes, I might prefer to use in-depth interviews with students to test their understanding of material and how it relates to other information to which they have been exposed, encourage students to analyze concepts by breaking them into component parts, or to synthesize disparate information into a larger context. In a larger class where individualized assessment is more difficult, I would include time in class to check the students' understanding of the material via conceptual questions followed by informal student responses (i.e. ConcepTests, see above). I would also design exam questions using concept maps and other more synthetic and analytical strategies in addition to more traditional fact-recall questions. I believe this can encourage the same kinds of thinking as the more in depth interviews that would be impractical in larger classes.

I have come to believe that all summative assessments of student performance, such as grades, should be assigned based on acquiring objective standards of knowledge and skills, rather than by comparison to other students. This assures that those who do well have achieved a certain level of competency, and removes grade competition as an impediment to group learning. When students can help and support their classmates, it deepens their own learning, and I believe every effort should be made to encourage that process.

All of this is nice in theory, but it requires work and time to put into practice. Some of the strategies I have mentioned, such as ConcepTests, are well established in many classrooms, and are more straightforward to implement. More esoteric principles like encouraging active learning, providing an environment that allows synthesis of knowledge and encourages questions and student confidence, require an understanding of each class and a responsiveness to unique needs. Though it is impossible to provide the perfect learning environment for all students, I feel that the attempt to optimize a course for my particular students is important. I see teaching as a rewarding challenge to me as an academic and as a lifelong learner in all areas of my life, including astronomy and physics.