This is a collection of pointers to content on teaching and learning that I've found provocative and/or informative.

1. See this collection of different instructors criteria on using AI generative tools such as Chat-GP3

2. Peer Instruction 

Peer Instruction (PI) is based on idea that peers often do a better job explaining things to each other than a professor using expert language and terminology.  Traditional lecture is turned into mini-lectures and follow-on questions, where students discuss and the professor is more moderator than lecturer.  Research shows that Peer Instruction leads to better grades, retention, and student satisfaction.  Even when Peer Instruction is done poorly, it leads to better results than the highest-rated lecturers. [From Joe Hummel] 

Peer Instruction was popularized by Harvard Physics professor Eric Mazur.  See his American Journal of Physics article.  Want to get started using peer instruction? Here is a page with getting-started explanations as well as links to papers about peer instruction in CS: [again thanks to Joe Hummel]  www.peerinstruction4cs.com/latest-research/

3. "Teaching is giving opportunity to the students to discover things by themselves."   -- Famed problem-solving guru George Polya on teaching, at 2:15 in this 1966 video.

4. See the seven teaching practices that I use to help my peer instruction, and the included links to a demo lesson.

5. There is a enormous demand for CS education.  Will we meet the challenge, or will we cause systemic problems with long-term effects?  Eric Roberts has compiled resources that address this question.

6. The Danger of Fluent Lectures by Colleen Flaherty in the 9/9/2019  edition of Inside Higher Ed describes how professors giving smooth expert lectures can "lull students into thinking they've learned more than they actually have - potentially at the expense [of the more difficult] active learning".  [Thanks to Pat Troy]  

7. See the article by Elli Theobald et. al. "Active learning narrows achievement gaps for underrepresented students in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and math." It indicates that "[In STEM] switching from passive techniques, such as traditional lectures, to inquiry-based “active learning” methods has a disproportionate benefit for underrepresented students."  [Thanks to Pat Troy]  

8. Students using laptops or tablets during class retain less of the material, as do the students around them according to studies described in this report. [Thanks to Pat Troy]  

9. This New York Times article by Tim Herrera refers to a Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology article showing that drawing helps you remember, even more so than writing.  

10. To improve your memory, follow the following recommendations highlighted in a 4/12/19 New York Times article "How to Improve Your Memory (Even if You Can't Find Your Car Keys)" by Adam Grant

• 1. Give your brain time to assimilate new information.  After being given information, sit, rest, and do nothing in a quiet space for a few minutes afterwards, giving your brain a chance to assimilate the new information, and you may improve your memory by 10%-30%.  See this study.

  2. Quiz yourself.  Taking practice tests leads to better retention, according to this research.

  3. Tell someone.  Explaining to someone else not only helps you understand it better, but the act of retrieving the information in your own mind helps you remember it, according to this article.

11. Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is a term coined by Lee Shulman as part of knowledge growth in teaching.  Shulman writes that the act of teaching deepens a teacher's content knowledge.  Pedagogical knowledge is how to teach the content.  Pedagogical content knowledge includes "the most useful form of representations of those ideas, the most powerful analogies, illustrations, examples, explanations, and demonstrations" as well as "an understanding of what makes the learning of specific topics easy or difficult".

12. Felder-Silverman Learning Styles.  One can fill out 44 questions online and get an assessment of preferred learning styles, along with descriptions and recommendations on how best to study as a result.  This link was referenced from the notes of a Virginia Tech course on Problem Solving for Computer Science.
    Julia Phelan's October 2021 Medium article Why I’d Like to Stop Talking About Learning Styles argues that the idea of Learning Styles is not backed by research and could put students into more of a fixed (rather than growth) mindset, and instead we should be focussing on teaching and learning strategies.

13. "Why Do Americans Stink At Math?" by Elizabeth Green.  New York Times Magazine, July 23, 2014.  [Thanks to Don Yanek]

Highlights that struck me: 

• • The comedian Louis C.K. parodied his daughters’ homework in an appearance on “The Late Show With David Letterman”: “It’s like, Bill has three goldfish. He buys two more. How many dogs live in London?”

  • [Lampert] replaced “I, We, You” with a structure you might call “You, Y’all, We.” Rather than starting each lesson by introducing the main idea to be learned that day, she assigned a single “problem of the day,” designed to let students struggle toward it — first on their own (You), then in peer groups (Y’all) and finally as a whole class (We). The result was a process that replaced answer-getting with what Lampert called sense-making.

  • "Dan Lortie calls the phenomenon the apprenticeship of observation. Teachers learn to teach primarily by recalling their memories of having been taught."

  • In Japan, teachers had always depended on jugyokenkyu, which translates literally as “lesson study,” a set of practices that Japanese teachers use to hone their craft. A teacher first plans lessons, then teaches in front of an audience of students and other teachers along with at least one university observer. Then the observers talk with the teacher about what has just taken place.

14. Paul Graham (computer scientist, entrepreneur, venture capitalist, author, essayist) wrote an excellent speech "What You'll Wish You'd Known" for a high school graduation, with insightful comments debunking the superficial "Follow your Dreams" slogan, talking about finding important problems, and curiosity, and not buying into default systems of thinking.

15. "We Can Code It: Why Computer Literacy is Key to Winning the 21st Century."  Mother Jones, ~July 2014.  [Thanks to Joanna Goode]

Computational Thinking and Problem Solving have wide applications.

16. "Have Smart Phones Destroyed a Generation?" by Jean Twenge.  The Atlantic, September 2017.  [Thanks to Kathy Matson]

Shows correlation between social problems and cell phone social media use.  Includes compelling statements such as "Eighth graders who spend 10 or more hours a week on social media are 56 percent more likely to say they are unhappy than those who spend less time" and "Girls, especially hard hit, have experienced a 50 percent rise in depressive symptoms [between 2012-2015]."

17. Aug 9, 1854: Thoreau Warns 'The Railroad Rides on Us' by Randy Alfred.  Wired, Aug 9, 2010.

Technology comes at a price.  Are we aware of it?

18. What characteristics are most important for top technology employees?  According to Google as reported in this Washington Post article, the top characteristics are all soft skills:

1. Being a good coach; 2. Communicating and listening well; 3. Possessing insights into others (including others different values and points of view); 4. Having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues; 5. Being a good critical thinker and problem solver; 6. Being able to make connections across complex ideas. The last one is: 7. STEM expertise.