Dr. Tae: Building a Culture of Teaching & Learning

January 15, 2011

I was fascinated by Dr. Tae’s, a physics professor at Northwestern University, presentation on what needs to happen to transform how we teach and learn. He looked at this question from the perspectives of higher and secondary education. He compared the type of teaching and learning that goes on in traditional setting with the teaching and learning that goes on in activities like skateboarding. He raises good questions and provides some provocative answers. Basically, he is challenging us to rethink how we structure school.

Let me know what you think of his ideas.

2 responses to “Dr. Tae: Building a Culture of Teaching & Learning”

Bo Adams

January 16, 2011

Enjoyed the Dr. Tae video very much. While I found the first few minutes about how bad school sucks to be painful and uncomfortable (especially some formalizations about teaching quality), I think the vast majority of the video is DEAD ON accurate about the change we need in “typical school.” I would love for school to match more closely with the way most people choose to learn outside the constraints of formalized schooling. The key, for me, seems to be collaboration. If we break down the silos of school, I think we can better match “real-life learning.” Critical content can be coordinated over several years if we know what each other is doing. We can focus more on the natural state of learning when we work together and think systemically.

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1. Advancing the Teaching Profession
  
  January 16, 2011
  
  I agree that some of it was hard to watch or uncomfortable. The images of large classrooms of students passively sitting and taking in teacher-talk was hard to remember, but true. I can’t help but think of our AP conversations and the meaninglessness of just studying the chart. The Krebs cycle chart that had to be memorized is something Linnea just had to do for AP Biology. While she could do it, she didn’t learn it or the underlying biology. That’s symptomatic of the problems he addressed. Not only in science, but in other disciplines as well. I do think he ended it on a hopeful note, a place to go. I think we are on that path.
  
  Thanks!
  
  Bob
  
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