The ​
Teaching and Learning Center​
invites full­time faculty to apply for the Faculty Learning Community for Applying Cognitive Science to the College Classroom Cognitive science seeks to systematically investigate questions such as: ● What role does attention play in learning? ● Why do we remember certain things and not others? ● Are some people just good or bad at certain subjects? ● How can we structure activities and assignments to foster deep learning? ● In what ways do experts think differently than novices? ● Why do many students seem to struggle with transferring their learning to a new setting? In this year­long faculty learning community, participants will read a carefully selected series of works written by leading cognitive scientists, but aimed at classroom teachers. Then faculty will discuss how these findings apply to teaching in their respective disciplines, make changes to their teaching based on research about how people learn, and share their findings with other faculty through articles, conference presentations and other appropriate venues. The readings will include noted works on the science of learning including: ● How Students Learn​
, published by the National Research Council ● Why Don’t Students Like School?​
, Daniel Willingham ● Make it Stick​
, Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel Application deadline: Wednesday, March 9, 2016 What is a Faculty Learning Community? A faculty learning community is a cross­disciplinary group of 8­12 faculty who work together over an extended period of time to explore a specific topic related to their professional teaching practice. In this supportive environment, faculty explore best practices, engage in deep discussion about the topic and then share their work with the faculty community at large so as to support their colleagues in this area. Faculty commit to: ● Participate in eight meetings over the 2016­2017 academic year on the following dates (all Mondays from 2:00pm­3:30pm) o Fall 2016: ​
9/12, 10/10, 11/14, 12/12, o Spring 2017: 1/23, 2/20, 3/20, 4/17 ● Complete readings and activities between meetings. ● Revise and implement at least one course or lesson based on the readings and discussions. ● Share the expertise gained in the faculty learning community with a larger faculty audience. This may include giving a presentation, providing resource materials on the topic, publishing the findings of the work, or other method agreed upon. Benefits: ● Enhanced understanding of how to apply cognitive science research to help students learn in your courses. ● Network with an interdisciplinary group of colleagues. ● Receive a $1000 stipend paid at the completion of the program. To Apply: Please respond to each of the following questions in fewer than 250 words per question. 1. Briefly describe what you hope to gain as a result of your participation in this faculty learning community? 2. What questions do you have about how people learn that you would like to explore in this learning community? Save your application as a Word document or PDF file, and then​
​
click here to submit your application online​
. Deadline: ​
Completed applications must be received online by March 9, 2016 Questions: Pete Watkins, Associate Director TLC, ​
[email protected]