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Critical Thinking Mini-Lessons

Submitted by Briony Taylor on Fri, 2008-10-17 20:44.
For some interesting reading on critical thinking, check out the following link to the Skeptic's Dictionary - a website that approaches thinking with the opinion that "skepticism is most valuable when seeking and evaluating information".

http://www.skepdic.com/refuge/ctlessons.html

Thinking Through Undergraduate Student Learning - Addressing Student Disengagement

Submitted by Briony Taylor on Mon, 2008-09-29 09:54.
What do you NOT know about how students learn?

During your discussion sections you may encounter disengaged students. Individual reasons for disengagement may occur; however, Donald Harward takes a micro approach to understanding the structural and institutional causes of disengagement.

He argues: “What all this reveals is higher education’s failure to attend to the most fundamental of our responsibilities: the development of the whole person — intellectual, emotive/behavioral, and civic.”

From: http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/04/15/harward
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Thinking Through Undergraduate Student Learning - Learning Styles

Submitted by Briony Taylor on Mon, 2008-09-29 09:40.
What do you know about how students learn?

There are 3 main learning styles: auditory, visual and kinesthetic. Keep this in mind when planning your tutorial groups. It may be helpful to ask students to consider their own learning styles. Once aware of how they best learn, they may be able to have more input in how you facilitate their learning. Students may be interested in the following learning style questionnaire from the University of South Dakota:

http://www.usd.edu/trio/tut/ts/style.html
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Great Video on Teaching

Submitted by Christine Adam on Thu, 2007-07-05 11:33.

This link takes you to an excellent video about working with Deep and Surface Learners. It's about 20 minutes long.

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Learning Styles v. Learning Approaches

Submitted by Christine Adam on Wed, 2006-08-09 09:18.

Abstract for attached article:

The Learning Styles school and the Approaches to Learning school represent two rather different perspectives on the interaction of students with a learning situation. This paper outlines the basic positions of the two schools, and then considers the extent to which it is possible to reconcile them. A possible framework for such a task by Riding (1997) is discussed and areas of commonality are highlighted. Neither school is free from criticism, and a summary of the criticisms of the constructs and the data collection instruments is provided in each case. Finally, research into the impact of the two schools on student learning is considered. Overall it is concluded that investigation of students’ Learning Styles or Approaches to Learning are probably of more benefit to the teacher than to the individual student.