theories of learning

Helping Organic Chemistry Students Develop Metacognitive Problem-Solving Skills

by Katherine Blackford, Chemistry Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2021 Each time I have taught organic chemistry, students have come to me wondering why, even after memorizing all of the necessary content, they still struggled to solve exam problems. They have mentioned running out of time after realizing too late that…

Visualizing Stochastic Processes

by Ella Hiesmayr, Statistics Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2021 One effective way of making content accessible to a wide range of people is to present the material in a variety of formats. It is common to teach mathematical courses by relying mainly on material in text form, but some mathematical…

Learning How to Learn: Teaching Self-Awareness in Engineering

by Adam Uliana, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Teaching Effectiveness Award Essay, 2019 “I studied, like, forever on everything we learned except what was on the exam. And I just got unlucky with dumb math mistakes.” Such overly simplified explanations echoed the room as I passed out graded midterm exams in…

The Tipping Point: Encouraging Inclusive Participation Through Productive Failure in a Highly Diverse Student Setting

by Sandile Hlatshwayo, Economics There are several benefits to this warm-up approach. Primarily… students who must first attempt to solve problems with very little instruction tend to learn the concepts better once they are given formal instruction. Second, students experience less fear over offering incorrect answers as making public errors becomes a normalized part of the classroom experience. Finally, and centrally, students that tend to be non-participators participate…