What I Wish I Knew

Lessons From the Front Row

Yan Chen, Daniel Kahneman collegiate professor of information, reflects on how front-row learning, patient questioning, and playful teaching have shaped her approach to education.

Q: Thinking back to your first year as a student, what’s one experience, challenge, or piece of advice that stuck with you?

I was slightly near-sighted but could see well enough without glasses if I sat close enough to the blackboard. As a result, I always sat in the front row(s) if I could find a seat. This turned out to be an efficient learning strategy, since the instructor paid more attention to students sitting in the front row, and most of my questions were answered during class.

One piece of advice for new students: sit in the front of the classroom.

Q: What do you remember most about your first year teaching, and how has it shaped the way you show up in the classroom today?

I often asked students questions that no one could answer, so I had to answer them myself. A staff member from the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching came to observe me. She said afterward, “Don’t give out the answers right away. Ask the question in another way, or wait a little longer.” I did, and it worked!

Q: What’s one lesson you’ve learned (either from students or experience) that continues to influence your approach to education?

Students love playing games. When I teach a new concept, such as competitive equilibrium, I design an in-class experiment where some students get to be buyers, others sellers. They bargain with each other to buy or sell their products. We record the prices and analyze how the average price compares to the intersection of the demand and supply curves. This is a fun way of learning competitive equilibrium, or other theoretical concepts.