Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning, 2nd Edition

by James M. Lang

A freshly updated edition featuring research-based teaching techniques that faculty in any discipline can easily implement

Research into how we learn can help facilitate better student learning—if we know how to apply it. Small Teaching fills the gap in higher education literature between the primary research in cognitive theory and the classroom environment. In this book, James Lang presents a strategy for improving student learning with a series of small but powerful changes that make a big difference―many of which can be put into practice in a single class period. These are simple interventions that can be integrated into pre-existing techniques, along with clear descriptions of how to do so. Inside, you’ll find brief classroom or online learning activities, one-time interventions, and small modifications in course design or student communication. These small tweaks will bring your classroom into alignment with the latest evidence in cognitive research.

Each chapter introduces a basic concept in cognitive research that has implications for classroom teaching, explains the rationale for offering it within a specific time period in a typical class, and then provides concrete examples of how this intervention has been used or could be used by faculty in a variety of disciplines. The second edition features revised and updated content including a newly authored preface, new examples and techniques, updated research, and updated resources.

* How can you make small tweaks to your teaching to bring the latest cognitive science into the classroom?

* How can you help students become good at retrieving knowledge from memory?

* How does making predictions now help us learn in the future?

* How can you build community in the classroom?

Higher education faculty and administrators, as well as K-12 teachers and teacher trainers, will love the easy-to-implement, evidence-based techniques in Small Teaching.

288 pages, Hardcover

Published August 24, 2021

About the author

James M. Lang is a nonfiction author whose work focuses on education, literature, and religion. His most recent books are Distracted: Why Students Can't Focus and What You Can Do About It (Basic Books, 2020), Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning (Wiley, 2016), and Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty (Harvard UP, 2013). He writes a monthly column for the Chronicle of Higher Education; his essays and reviews have appeared in Time, The Conversation, the Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, and more.

Reviews

[Morgane Golan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best pedagogical guides I have read, and that is largely due to the structure in which it is written: each chapter starts with principle or theory, then provides actionable models of small teaching, and wraps up with quick tips. I especially enjoyed chapters 4 (connecting) and 7 (belonging), and I have already thought about the ways in which I will employ these small teaching techniques. In truth, I've marked up this whole book with my thoughts and ideas and have also started a new list of other books to read in the future, per Lang's recommendations. I highly recommend this book to all teachers, but especially university professors in the sciences - it's packed full of useful info that is fairly easily implemented!

[Hope Harvey-Marose · Rating 2 out of 5]

100% has good ideas about pedagogy and easy teaching techniques if you're just now starting your teaching journey in higher education. So many good points. However, I could not stand the introductory anecdotes. His self-congratulatory stories about bothering baristas and learning multiple languages but somehow struggling with Spanish made me want to jump head first into the shallow end of a swimming pool. He just seems so unbelievably insufferable, and even though he clearly knew what he was talking about and the information was valuable, I couldn't get passed how annoyed I was after every definitely-true-totally-not-made-up introduction.

[Gretchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably more eye-opening for college professors than K-12 teachers, who tend to do more of the things described in this book as a matter of course. Still, the combination of research supporting each of these learning strategies, and the fact that they are all small interventions, will be informative and encouraging to many teachers.