Quotes
A Snippet of History of Lecturing
About 1000 years later, Pope Gregory VII decided the clergy needed to be educated. This was a good idea since clerics were very powerful and it was important that they all were properly trained in Church dogma. As far as I can ascertain, this was the first time in history that a large number of…
You Wouldn’t Provide a Superior Practice to Your Child?
Have you had pushback to this move? Certainly, we’ve gotten some pushback, but what I tell the average clinical faculty member is: “OK, if you like doing appendectomies using an old method because you like it, and you’re really good at it, but it’s really not the best method for the patient, would you do…
Idol of Cave in Teaching and Learning
One of the stumbling blocks, she found, was that “a desire to get good [student] evaluations posed a risk to their willingness to innovate.” But an even stronger source of inertia was the need to hang on to their “personal identity affirmation” — in other words, to avoid appearing stupid in the lecture hall. One…
Idol of Cave toward Math Class Hinders Change
Most high school graduates in the United States have experienced around 1,500 hours of mathematics instruction. This experience creates powerful expectations for mathematics teaching and learning among the general public that does not exist for other professions. Consider physicians. None of us spent our formative years observing a physician at work for 1 hour a…
Frustration is Necessary for Brain Growth
The road to superaging is difficult, though, because these brain regions have another intriguing property: When they increase in activity, you tend to feel pretty bad – tired, stymied, frustrated. Think about the last time you grappled with a math problem or pushed yourself to your physical limits. […] This means that pleasant puzzles like…