andy@rocky.STANFORD.EDU (Andy Freeman) (01/10/88)
Discussions of good teaching like the current one often assume that
there is this thing called "good teaching" that depends only on the
teacher, i.e., some strategies/techniques work for some but not
others (while some don't work for anyone). I think that's wrong;
"good teaching" also depends on the kind of material being taught.
Taking college teaching as an example, there are at least three
types of classes: 1) intro, 2) depth, and 3) specialized. (Grad
and senior-level in-major classes tend to be specialized while
soph and junior in-major classes are for depth.) Intro class
teachers have to sell the field, i.e., show why some people are
very interested in the area and why "no educated person" should
be completely ignorant of its basics. Depth class teachers don't
have to sell the field while they fill out the backbone taught
in the intro classes. They also have to say "that's plausible,
but we lied, here's how it really works." In specialized classes,
students are responsible for building a coherent framework out
of the material (usually from several classes) and if they aren't
interested in the subject, they shouldn't be there. Good teaching
in specialized classes doesn't involve selling of the field in
general; it is merely selling some details.
Note that there is also the skills vs academic class distinction
in college. Remedial classes are usually skills classes. Programming
may also be a skills class; teaching a new computer languages to people
who already know how to program, as opposed to teaching about computer
languages, is definitely a skills class. The intro, depth, specialized
categories above cover academic classes - there may be similar useful
distinctions in skills classes.
In each of these contexts, "good teaching" means something different.
"Good teaching" in a specialized class is not so good in an intro
class.
-andy
--
Andy Freeman
UUCP: {arpa gateways, decwrl, sun, hplabs, rutgers}!sushi.stanford.edu!andy
ARPA: andy@sushi.stanford.edu
(415) 329-1718/723-3088 home/cubicle