Order Matters: Aligning Teaching with How People Learn and Becoming Metacognitive about Instructional Decisions
Kimberly Tanner is a professor of Biology, Director of SEPAL: The Science Education Partnership and Assessment Laboratory. She teaches at San Francisco State University, and she delivered an energetic keynote session designed to prompt instructors to consider valuable questions related to intentional teaching.What teaching choices are we making as instructors, and why? How do we as instructors decide how to spend in-class time with students? To what extent do our teaching plans align with what is known about how the brain learns? What tools are available to become more analytical about our teaching choices and strategize for change? In this interactive presentation, attendees will explore their current approaches to planning and reflecting on their teaching, as well as explore the 5E learning cycle model as an analytical tool for understanding teaching choices. The session will be framed in findings from multiple research literatures – including on metacognition, learning cycle models, teaching as brain changing, and inclusive teaching, which have been explored in the context of biology teaching and learning in the following articles published by the presenter:
Order Matters: Using the 5E Model to Align Teaching with How People Learn, Tanner, 2010. lifescied.org/content/9/3/159.full
Promoting Student Metacognition, Tanner, 2012. lifescied.org/content/11/2/113.full
Structure Matters: 21 Teaching Strategies to Promote Student Engagement and Cultivate Classroom Equity, Tanner, 2013. ifescied.org/content/12/3/322.full
Teaching as Brain Changing: Exploring Connections between Neuroscience and Innovative Teaching, Owens and Tanner, 2017. lifescied.org/content/16/2/fe2.full