Failure is Success in Progress
In order to develop the concept of the benefits of failure, Penn State University has a course for engineering students called Failure 101. The students have to take risks and…
Cultivating Students
Previously, we looked at the skills that different performances require, ultimately focusing on learning skills, which are embedded in everyday behavior and operate in conjunction with specialized knowledge. That specialized…
Forget the Valedictorian; Let’s Recognize the Improvetorian
In top suburban schools across the country, the valedictorian, a beloved tradition, is rapidly losing its singular meaning as administrators dispense the title to every straight-A student rather than try…
Unmet Needs and Effective Learning
All quotes from Maslow are from A Theory of Human Motivation, A. H. Maslow (1943) published in Psychological Review, 50, 370-396: http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Maslow/motivation.htm Maslow’s Heirarchy describes five levels of needs, the…
Biases and Prejudging Students
The work by Darley and Gross, as documented in their paper, A Hypothesis-Confirming Bias in Labeling Effects, gives a troubling example of how preconceptions can cause an educator not only…
Failure for Dummies
One of the hallmarks of a quality learning environment is that it permits learners to fail. We might conclude that the primary reason is that without the possibility of failure,…
Teaching, Learning, & Environment: Shifting Perspectives
by Dan Apple During my Keynote Address at a Professional Development Symposium, I asked teams of the 130 participants to reflect on three aspects of successful teaching and learning and…