In addition, this paper brings out an important idea that methods like TBL
help expose -- the “hidden curriculum” of the courses that we teach. As
specialists in an area, we often have a hard time articulating our thought
process. Of course, this bodes ill for our students, but methods like TBL
help us see this when our students come up with odd explanations or when
(like in this article) when we try to develop application exercises.
I first read about this in "College Students' Understanding of the Carbon
Cycle: Contrasting Principle-based and Informal Reasoning," Hartley et
al., BioScience, 61(1), pp. 65-75, 2011,
http://news.msu.edu/media/documents/2011/01/f6e8a4d5-8ccb-48be-8d4b-1915c5c2583c.pdf .
They describe how in intro biology courses instructors take it for a given
that mass is conserved and how they use this to understand the carbon
cycle. Yet, they largely don't teach it -- it is that ingrained with how
they think about biology (or so argues the article).
I suspect that many disciplines have such “hidden curriculums.” If you're
like me, they're likely easier to see in a discipline other than your own.
- Bill
Michael said:
> Friends,
>
> I recall there being some interest in this topic. I just learned about a
> pretty new scholarly article about this very topic:
>
> Paterson, J., & Sneddon, J. (2011). Conversations about curriculum change:
> mathematical thinking and
> team-based learning in a discrete mathematics course. International
> Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, 42(7): 879-889.
>
> Hooray!
>
> -M
>
> Michael Sweet, Ph.D.
> Director of Instructional Development, Center for Teaching and Learning
> MAI 2206 | Mail Stop G2100 | (512) 232-1775 | http://ctl.utexas.edu
--
Bill Goffe
Department of Economics
SUNY Oswego, 416 Mahar Hall
Oswego, NY 13126
315-312-3444(v), 315-312-5444(f)
[log in to unmask]
http://cook.rfe.org
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