Maybe Teaching is a Bad Idea

Deep and lasting learning results when we teach human brains in ways responsive to how they're structured and how they function, which is not how we imagine they work or wish they would work. This book proposes a radical restructuring of teaching so that it conforms to how people learn. Spence maintains that teaching cannot and should not be aimed at transferring knowledge from teacher brains into student brains. In his words: "Decades of experience have made perfectly clear that this approach frustrates teachers, bores students, and results in minimal learning."This is a book that challenges-it will poke and prod your thinking. The author writes near the end of Chapter 4, "I wanted to write a book that asked real questions and explored possible answers. I am not concerned that you agree with my answers or ideas, but I fervently hope the questions I'm raising will lead you to questions about habitual teaching practices and the resulting failure of students to learn."

Larry D. Spence was an associate professor of political science at Penn State, where he was recognized for distinguished teaching with two University-wide teaching awards during his career. After 25 years teaching, he became the founding director of the University's Schreyer Institute for Innovation in Learning. Upon his retirement, he directed a series of learning initiatives in Penn State's School of Information Sciences and Technology and the Smeal College of Business.

Introduction-Maryellen Weimer 1. Early Learning Experiencing in School 2. Early Teaching Experiences in College 3. It's Time to Put Lectures on the Shelf 4. What is the Role of Questions in Learning? 5. Content. Does All That Information Lead to Knowledge? 6. Teaching Realities. Conflicts, Assumptions, and Approaches 7. What Is Learning? 8. Rethinking Failure and Ignorance 9. Criticism. The Key to Learning 10. Teaching That Promotes Learning from Mistakes and Failure 11. Practice Makes Perfect but Not Unless It's Deliberate Epilogue-Maryellen Weimer About the Author Index