discussion

Using Index Cards to Build a Discussion Culture in Economics Section

By Julia Paris, Economics  Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2026 Why should we care about taxes? Should cellphones be banned in schools? What should be the role of the social safety net? These are the questions that students confront in a class on Using Economics for Public Policy. When…

Analyzing Moving Images: A “Salon-Style” Approach

By Jonathan Mackris, Film and Media Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2026   Students entering my film courses usually have some familiarity with analyzing written texts. Analyzing moving images is a different story. All of them are able to follow films and understand their plots. Yet many of…

Threading the Needle: Values and Evidence in Political Economy

By Maxwell Lindquist, Sociology Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2026   In my discussion sections for Political Economy of Silicon Valley, the main teaching challenge was not getting students interested in the course material. They were already interested. Most came in with strong opinions about tech companies, founders, AI, and…

Teaching Democratic Practice in an Era of Democratic Decline

By Taylor Brown, School of Social Welfare Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2026   Social welfare policy is forged through democratic deliberation—through the messy, necessary work of disagreement, persuasion, and the building of consensus across differences. Yet our students arrive having come of age amid acute polarization and democratic backsliding,…

Zoom Labs: Replicating Hands-on Learning in Virtual Education

by Mallika Bariya, Materials Science and Engineering Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2021 Challenge: In the first fully remote semester of the COVID-19 pandemic, I was a GSI for Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) 45L, a core lab course. Labs revolve around hands-on participation and pose a unique challenge for…

Using Phenomena-Based Inquiry to Increase Class Participation

by Rachael Olliff Yang, Integrative Biology Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2019 At the beginning of every class, instructors are faced with the challenge of encouraging participation. I was able to successfully increase class participation using phenomena-based inquiry. In Fall 2018 I co-taught the field section and lab of General Biology…

From 40 to 400 to 1,400: Providing Formative Feedback in Large-Scale Courses

by Kevin Lin, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2019 Students learn computer science (CS) by doing. In CS 61A, a highly-rated introductory CS course at UC Berkeley, students are introduced to new concepts in lecture, go hands-on to learn the solution process in lab and discussion…