This Nutshell continues from V14N2 with the theme of the concepts of time and change-through-time as applied to teaching and learning at college level.

Magnitude

The fractal pattern of rainfalls and floods we saw in the last Nutshell carries with it the quality of events of varied magnitudes occurring as punctuated events. Sylwester (2002) employed an interesting term: ñmaturation,î to describe the punctuated event of an adolescentÍs transition to reflective adult thinking. ñMaturationî is also the term used in geology to describe the punctuated conversion of marine organic matter into petroleum. Early investigators in the 1950s, still wearing the blinders imposed by LyellÍs gradualism, expected a gradual transition from organic matter into oil. When continuous samples taken downwards from recent marine deposits into producing oil strata in the Gulf of Mexico failed to show gradual conversion, the obvious interpretation, that petroleum was generated through a punctuated event, simply just wasnÍt made. Decades later, ñmaturationî correctly described the punctuated conversion of organic matter to petroleum. Presumptions that a process will have particular temporal qualities can blind the brightest workers to understanding the process, even when data clearly indicate the obvious.

As a college learner, one achieves knowledge in classes with a reasonable investment of effort, and these efforts characterize the ñcommon eventsî of the college experience. Individuals also have days when they make little progress or take a break from effort. When one faces a major open-ended challenge, such as a research project or thesis, mere acquisition of knowledge no longer suffices to produce a solution. Effort may increase, and if no solution occurs, the effort becomes accompanied by anxiety and frustration. However, with perseverance, there comes suddenly the ñAha!î moment. It may be a breakthrough solution, or it may be a realization of why particular efforts constitute an approach destined to fail. In either case, there is an unprecedented understanding of the problem and what it takes to solve it„an abrupt realization and clarity neither attained gradually nor at a predicted time. It leaves a permanent change in the mind (or a culture) analogous to the quality of TimeÍs Arrow described by Stephen Jay Gould. There is no return to the old anxiety, fear or lack of understanding. Instead, the clarity arrives with a ñhighî of excitement, confidence and enthusiasm. Such are the feelings that most teachers know through experience and aspire for their students to share.

Age

Physiologic changes account for special challenges in meeting needs of introductory students. The adolescent brain makes rapid transition to adult thinking through increased activation and development of the frontal lobes (see Sylwester 2002; Leamnson, 2000). This occurs generally from late teens through early twenties, so it is not surprising that students with traits of adult thinkers (Perry, 1999; King and Kitchener, 1995) coexist in freshman classes with those in the late developmental stage of children (Inhelder and Piaget, 1958). Introductory courses pose tough challenges for instructors who must meet needs of students on both sides of the adolescent-adult transition.

ProfessorsÍ age and experience often increase the need for effort in relating with their students. Younger professors launching their first courses often master material only a short time ahead of their students and need to spend more time in content learning than their more experienced colleagues. By virtue of similar cultural experience and their own current struggles to learn, many relate easily, almost intuitively, to studentsÍ needs. Older professors have better mastery of content and resources, and their years of learning permit them to see beautiful and subtle interconnections that are not possible without such depth. However, intellectual growth can come with decreased ability to reach students, who cannot comprehend the connections that such professors now wish to communicate and explore.

When professors complain that todayÍs students are not so engaged or prepared as those encountered earlier in their careers, they should realize that the perception can come as result of the professorÍs own growth and not always from increasing inferiority in her/his recent students. Experience brings with it increased necessity to devote more attention to seeing needs of students, because understanding these needs no longer will come as easily or intuitively. Better health care and technology have combined to extend human longevity and productive capabilities. Many college students and the faculty in general are older than in the past. Recent work supports credibility for solid cognitive abilities of older students and teachers (Leamnson, 2002), and contradicts the stereotypical ñold dogs canÍt learn new tricksî view once accepted as popular wisdom.

Ordering of Events

Random distribution of knowledge„teaching in a sequence that might have been designed by throwing dice„ doesnÍt optimize learning. Ordering of events relates to course and curricular organization, and good organization is among the most critical teaching practices conducive to learning (Feldman, 1998). The fractal nature of learning dictates that the cognitive and affective messages conveyed at the start of a course build recursively in the brain and exert disproportional influence. The importance of first days of classes have been deduced by many educators. Titles like Successful Beginnings for College Teaching (McGlynn, 2001) thus seem inevitable.

The sequential development of ideas essential to the frameworks of reasoning in disciplines are sometimes strikingly recapitulated in the ordering of topics in a general text or in courses presented in a curriculum„even when presenting historical development is far from the minds of the authors/designers. There are usually reasons that necessitated a particular sequence, and it is insightful to examine the development of oneÍs own discipline and to learn not just where ideas came from, but why they developed in a certain order. The importance of order clearly manifests from the work with intellectual and ethical development of college students. The order is solidly established based on data from both males and females from a variety of institutions. Every worker who has built a credible database and sought to classify adult thinking has come up with a similar taxonomic pattern to that of Perry (1999). The progression of events from low-level into high level thinking applies generally to humans. There are few if any documented advances from dualistic thinking into good evaluative thinking without passing through the intermediate stages. An instructor will benefit by consulting any of the taxonomies based on good data. They are too important to ignore, because understanding the stage that typifies the present development of oneÍs students is paramount to designing ñjust-in-time teachingî that will successfully match studentsÍ needs. A program without a clear plan for a curriculum to advance students through the necessary order of thinking will produce few graduates capable of sophisticated reasoning, and only then through mere luck. The teacher who launches into an endeavor based primarily on what he/she wants to teach rather than on awareness of studentsÍ needs and capabilities unwittingly initiates a horrific experience for all.

Faculty development topics are appreciated when aligned with the sequence of the semester. For example, Faculty Development Associates aligns its posted teaching tips in this manner at http://developfaculty.com/tips.html. Prior to the start of the term, one gets tips on building an effective syllabus and conducting an effective initial class meeting. Soon thereafter, one may find an article on managing the first exam. Late in the term, one finds tips on managing student evaluations or conducting an effective closing class meeting, etc. At any one time, there are several tips available to the user of the page.

The next Nutshell will conclude with the temporal qualities of duration, frequency, and rate.

BOOT CAMP for PROFS 2006!

Registration is open with spaces now held for ISU faculty. See http://www.isu.edu/ctl/nutshells/old_nutshells/6_606.htm for details. Contact nuhfed@isu.edu if interested.

 

New Faculty Orientation Scheduled August 15 & 16, 2006!

More detail to follow. If you have new faculty in your units, please avoid causing conflicts for them by scheduling meetings, etc. on these dates.