Effective Instruction for STEM Disciplines: From Learning Theory to College Teaching

by Edward J. Mastascusa, William J. Snyder, Brian S. Hoyt

Praise for Effective Instruction for STEM Disciplines

"The world of today's learners is a multimode, information-intensive universe of interactive bursts and virtual exchanges, yet our teaching methods retain the outdated characteristics of last generation's study-and-drill approach. New pedagogical methods, detailed and justified in this groundbreaking work, are essential to prepare students to confront the concerns of the future. The book challenges our traditional assumptions and informs the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) community of the latest research on how the brain learns and retains information, how enhanced student engagement with subject material and its context is essential to deep learning, and how to use this knowledge to structure STEM education approaches that work." -DAVID V. KERNS, JR., Franklin and Mary Olin Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and founding provost, Olin College



"Every STEM faculty member should have this book. It provides a handy introduction to the 'why and how' of engaging students in the learning process." -DAVID VOLTMER, professor emeritus, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, and American Society for Engineering Education Fellow



"The poor quality of math and science education and the shortage of well-qualified graduates are acknowledged almost daily in the U.S. press. Here the authors provide much-needed insights for educators seeking to improve the quality of STEM education as well as to better prepare students to solve the problems they will confront in our increasingly technology-driven world." -KEITH BUFFINTON, interim dean of engineering, Bucknell University

Genres: Education

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 23, 2011

Reviews

[Ken Rideout · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book about what the best research out there about how learning takes place in the student's mind. No anectdotal, sounds good advice on teaching - just cold hard facts about what we do and don't know about what is effective. Learning theories are presented with the right balance of approachability and rigour. I'm reading this book for a class, but it really has me thinking about the tacit assumptions that go into our teaching and how we really need to re-evaluate what we do in the classroom in light of what we now know about how the brain lays down memories and forms complex representations (schema). We have to think about short term and long term memory; chunks of knowledge; rates of learning; lead the students to form complex schema representation in their minds; attack pre-existing notions head-on; mix up approaches; surprise the students upon occasion; change formating and sequencing; and more! The title says for STEM disciplines and the specific examples are drawn from STEM college classes, but the applicability is universal to teaching I think.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was alright. I had a hard time with it, mostly because it is written for college level STEM instructors and my focus is more elementary and secondary. I should have realized that a book with "Learning theory" in the title would be kind of a dense read.