Fall 2012 Faculty Conference t

B R I G H A M YO U N G U N I V E R S I T Y- I D A H O | WI NT ER 20 1 3 | V O L. 1 3 NUM. 1
t Fall 2012 Faculty
Conference
UPCOMING EVENTS
Event
Date
Time & Location
Interest Forms Due
Spring Learning & Teaching Conference
February 1
Brown Bag
“Learning, Light and Truth, and the
Holy Ghost”
Willy Twitchell & Brian Pyper
February 21
1:00 - 2:00
MC 372A
February 22
11:30 - 12:30
MC 372A
Thomas E. Ricks Applications Due
March 1
Brown Bag
“Using the Word of God to resolve
tension between religious and
academic knowledge”
Moderated by Nate Williams
March 21
1:00 - 2:00
MC 372A
March 22
11:30 - 12:30
MC 372A
Articles Due for Fall 2013 Perspective
“Lessons Learned from Teaching at
Ricks/BYU-Idaho”
April 22
Sponsoring
Travel
Committee
Dialogue
Committee
Resource
Committee
Dialogue
Committee
Publication
Committee
Spring Learning & Teaching Conferences
Lilly Conference on College &
University Teaching
May 30June 2
Bethesda, MD
Travel
Committee
Teaching Professor Conference
May 30June 2
New Orleans, LA
Travel
Committee
Learn more at www.byui.edu/learning-teaching/calendar
t EDITOR
IN THIS ISSUE OF PERSPECTIVE
As I looked through the brochure of presentations for the faculty conference this last fall, I
remembered back to an earlier experience. I had a young lady, one of my advisees, come to
visit me. As we talked about her plan for the future, I suggested that she choose a major so
we could more clearly lay out her plan for graduation.
DA R I S H O WA R D
EDITOR
Publication Committee
Learning and Teaching
Council
[email protected]
or [email protected]
I asked her what she had considered as options, but she said she hadn’t really thought
about it. So I opened the class catalog, and we started with accounting and worked our
way down the list to zoology, even talking about some fields of study BYU-Idaho doesn’t
offer. Each time we considered a new major I would think about how wonderful it would be
to study it, and enthusiastically suggested it as an option. Each time she would simply say,
“No, not that one.”
When we reached the end, I asked her if that had helped her at all. She told me it hadn’t. I
smiled. “I can totally understand. I would love to study every one of them and would have a
hard time deciding, too.”
I was shocked as she shook her head and answered. “That is not the problem at all. I just
don’t have an interest in any of them.”
For me it was just the opposite. I had an interest in learning all of them, and could not
fathom her disinterest.
The thought of that day, and my desire to learn everything, came to my mind at the faculty
conference as I looked at the schedule of presentations and found every single offering to
be one I wanted to attend. How could I choose?
Our Publication committee has had a similar challenge. We only have a certain amount of
space in the magazine. How could we decide which ones to publish? We tried to make
decisions based on what would have a broad appeal, and what would work well in a
print format. As we approached presenters for articles, not all had time to write them up,
narrowing down the selection further.
For some of those whose presentation did not work into the printed magazine, we
requested they create something that could be put online if they had time.
All of this represents many hours of hard work, both on the part of the committee members
and on the part of the presenters. We hope you will enjoy these articles and look at the
extra material online. Though you may not be able to learn it all, at least it will be a start.
EDITORS
Contact information for the editors of Perspective magazine.
Lei Shen
Language & International Studies
[email protected]
413 SMI
496-4318
Ronald Nate
Economics
[email protected]
104 SMI
496-3810
Kevin Galbraith
Home and Family
[email protected]
223K CLK
496-4011
Janell Greenwood
Health, Recreation & Human Performance
[email protected]
250 ROM
496-4708
Justin Bates
Theatre and Dance
batesj@ byui.edu
230 SNO
496-4826
Daris Howard
Mathematics
[email protected]
232U RKS
496-7537
Contents
1
t WA LT E R G O N G
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
22
Teachers as Multipliers
25
Content Delivery
Teaching for Understanding and
Beyond: A Developing Teaching and
Learning Model
S T E V E N C H R I S T E N S O N & TO D D L . K E L S O N
W I L L I A M J. R I G G I N S J R .
My Journey on the Road to
Knowing, Doing, and Becoming
ANNE MARIE HARMON
10 Inverted Curriculum: Creating
15
Faculty Mentored Student
Research & Creative Works at
BYU-Idaho
D A N M O O R E , H E C TO R B E C E R R I L , J A C K F U L L E R ,
YO H A N D E LTO N , & S T E V E C H R I S T E N S O N
19
An Expanded Context for
Learning/Teaching in Developing
Disciple Leaders
RICHARD GRIMMET T
31
R O B E ATO N
Pattern of the Prophets: Expounding
in the Book of Mormon
J E N N Y TO N K S
36
38
Deepening Learning
K E L LY B U R G E N E R
t
THE LIGHTER SIDE
Like Wheedle, Like Tweedle,
Like Dum
TO M R A N E
t WALTER GONG K E Y N O T E A D D R E S S
I have found that I love
teaching most when I
am learning.
My Journey
On the Road to
Knowing, Doing,
and Becoming
ANN MARIE HARMON
As you know, the theme of this conference is To Know, To
Do, and To Become. President Clark spoke eloquently on
this topic last September at our faculty meeting. He began
by saying, “My starting point is a concept of learning based
on a talk1 given in 2000 by Elder Dallin H. Oaks entitled,
‘The Challenge to Become’.” Elder Oaks said,
The Apostle Paul taught that the Lord’s teachings and
teachers were given that we may all attain ‘the measure
of the stature of the fullness of Christ.’ (Ephesians 4:13)
This process requires far more that acquiring knowledge.
It is not even enough for us to be convinced of the
gospel; we must act and think so that we are converted
by it. In contrast to the institutions of the world, which
teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ
teaches us to become something… To testify is to know
and to declare. The gospel challenges us to be converted,
which requires us to do and to become.
President Clark continues, “I have found this framework
very useful in thinking about learning in the university.
When I speak of learning today, I speak of it as an increase
in the capacity or power to know, to do, and to become.”
Since I am neither an orator nor a philosopher, I hope
you will forgive my choice to approach this message from
a very personal standpoint. Like you, I am a learner and a
teacher. I have found that I love teaching most when I am
learning. Over the past 13 years of teaching at Brigham Young
University – Idaho, I have learned a great deal about teaching,
and I have tried to do some things in the way of becoming
a better teacher. If you will indulge me, I would like to share
with you some notions about learning and thinking that I
have been pondering recently, and what I plan to do with
these ideas with the hope of strengthening my students to
become better learners and thinkers. In addition, I hope to
become a better teacher and thinker myself. As I continue
to learn and grow, I am better able to convey the learning
process and hopefully ignite in the hearts and minds of my
students a love of learning that will accompany them in all
their learning throughout their lives.
You might be thinking, “That is a pretty tall order for a
math teacher!” And I would have to agree. Unfortunately,
many people hate math and certainly don’t want to learn
about it over a lifetime. My hope is that my students will
learn to learn, look for patterns, confront their conjectures,
and accomplish deep learning, not only in math, but in
everything they think. Additionally, I hope they become
shining examples, not of education, but of the glory of God,
which is intelligence.
So let me tell you a little about myself to help you
understand my view of the world. I teach mathematics and
hopefully a love for the Savior. In addition, I hope to share
life skills and disciple-like behavior.
I loved school when I was a child, and always wanted to
be the smartest kid in the class. I was always self-motivated
and never even imagined skipping class until I was in
college. The idea that school was boring, and that my
HARMON | 1
teachers weren’t teaching anything that I needed to know
about, was completely foreign.
I never planned to become a teacher; it just sort of
happened. Since I had virtually no training in education,
I taught as I was taught. I believed that students were there
to learn, and I was there to make it clear for them. As a
matter of fact, in teaching I managed to do pretty well.
I always got very high student evaluations, but to tell the
truth, they were learning as I had learned. Memorize,
regurgitate, and flush. Repeat. Memorize, regurgitate,
and flush. Repeat.
Since my students liked me as a teacher, generally liked
the classes I taught, and did well on department finals,
I thought I must be doing a good job. But, was I fostering
deep learning or deep understanding? I think not!
What do I mean by deep learning? I mean learning
that causes a student to confront his or her preconceived
notions with new information and sort out the truth.
Assuming the student is successful with that process, the
student then needs to be able to meaningfully convey that
truth to others.
What do I mean by
deep learning? I mean
learning that causes a
student to confront his
or her preconceived
notions with new
information and sort out
the truth.
Since many, if not most of our courses in the math
department are sequential, I have long been interested
in how students learn new material and assimilate old
information with new as they build their mathematical
understanding. Routinely, students who have had the
prerequisite class the previous semester swear that they
PERSPECTIVE | 2
have never seen what we are doing. How can it be that a
student would emphatically and earnestly insist that he has
never seen such and such a concept when I know he has,
especially when he was in my class the previous semester?
I used to thing that such students were just trying to
get me to review because they hadn’t really learned the
material previously and didn’t want to move on, but based
on several studies about how kids learn, I think their
minds had simply ignored any new material that didn’t
mesh with their preconceived notions of how math works,
and they retained their previous misconceptions.
A couple of years ago at a Faculty Conference like this
one, Ryan Nielson of the physics department showed
a video of the study done by the National Science
Foundation, Harvard University, and the Smithsonian
Institution, called Minds of Our Own.2 The study is a
series of three programs and was truly fascinating and
thought provoking. Later, I was introduced to another such
study called A Private Universe.3 Both of these studies ask
important questions about how children are exposed to
concepts (science and math in particular) over and over
again in the public school curriculum, and again in college,
and yet fail to understand very basic principles of science.
The first program in Minds of Our Own, called Can
We Believe Our Eyes?,4 begins with a graduation scene.
A brass band plays Pomp and Circumstance. Students and
faculty assemble and march into the outdoor arena. Proud
parents watch with joy. A student speaker reminds the
graduating class that they are graduating from MIT, the
premier engineering and science institution in the world.
They cheer and applaud wildly. We then fast forward to
several quick and random interviews with new engineering
grads. Each is asked, “Can you light this bulb with only a
battery and a wire?” Each answers “Yes,” but none is able to
light the bulb.
In another sketch in the second program of Minds of
Our Own, called Lessons from Thin Air5, graduates of
Harvard and MIT are asked, “What trees are made of?
Trees come from small seeds and grow into large, heavy
objects. Where did all that weight come from?” None of
the students correctly answers this question. In the film,
A Private Universe, we see student after student (K-12)
sharing their ideas of how the phases of the moon happen
or why we have seasons. They are then taught in class,
often with hands-on experiences, the correct principles.
A post interview with these students almost universally
reveals the students believe what they believed before
the instruction.
It might be interesting to see if the same thing would
happen with us as faculty members. How well do you
remember your basic electricity, photosynthesis, and geology?
We’ve always assumed
that if teachers teach,
students will learn.
But all the evidence
in cognitive science,
cognitive psychology,
and science education
suggest this is not true.
We’ve always assumed that if teachers teach, students will
learn. We assume, along with Rosalind Driver of Kings
College, London, that “as long as the expert tells the story
clearly and the listener is listening and paying attention,
they will automatically build up the understanding of the
expert. But all the evidence in cognitive science, cognitive
psychology, and science education suggest this is not true.
They can be listening and paying attention and reading
carefully, but construing the information differently from
what was intended by the expert.”6
We’ve believed that “students are empty vessels, blank slates
on which we could write. We just fill them with knowledge.”7
(Trish Stoddard of UC Santa Cruz) We’ve assumed that they
soak up knowledge like sponges and all we have to do is pour
in our knowledge. The fact is that students come to us with
their own understandings based on their experiences and
conjectures. “The models these kids have created are really
important to them. It’s their view of the world and they won’t
just change their ideas because a teacher says something,”8
HARMON | 3
says Charles A. Whitney of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center
for Astrophysics.
So what can we do? Phillip M. Sadler of Harvard
University states, “The key role of a teacher is to let the
kids express their ideas, test their ideas, and come to
understand which ideas are most powerful.”9 In fact, there
is a big gap between what is being taught and what is being
learned. Most students learn to pass tests. They can learn
the right answers, but often lack deeper understanding.
We, as teachers, need to be aware and have a good idea of
what our students already believe before we start to teach
them. We have to know where they are, otherwise “the
ideas we share with them that match their preconceived
ideas, they’ll assimilate and the ones that don’t, they
ignore.”10 (Trish Stoddard of UC Santa Cruz)
To learn, students need to have a question and need
to wonder about their explanations of how things work.
When Ken Bain visited last year, he mentioned that
students need to have a question before they can really
learn. They need to confront their preconceived ideas and
gather evidence to make new conjectures.
Many of us have valiantly attempted to incorporate
hands-on experiences and small group learning techniques
as we learn to use the Learning Model. But even handson experiences are not enough. “The learner must have
a heads-on experience to think things through and
reconstruct his prior ideas.”11 (Rosalind Driver)
To learn, students need
to have a question and
need to wonder about
their explanations of
how things work.
For instance, in A Mind of Our Own, inquiries were made
on topics that virtually every person has years of handson experience with, such as reflections in mirrors. The
question was, “If you want to see more of yourself in a
mirror hanging flat on a wall, would you walk forward,
walk backward, or not move at all?” Everyone said he
would move backward to see more of himself in the
mirror. Even a barber, who works with mirrors everyday,
thought he would see more of himself if he backed away
from the mirror.
Most learning is not about adding new information, but
about changing the information we already have.
“A classroom in which kids are just memorizing answers
to questions on a test is very different from a classroom
in which kids are struggling to explain and change their
ideas.”12 (Phillip M. Sandler)
Some important implication of these studies, for me,
include the importance of finding out what my students
believe before I teach the topic, helping my students find
meaningful questions from the get-go, helping my students
effectively relate new information to old so they can change
their ideas, and providing ample opportunity for reflection
and articulation of principles.
My students often have little or no understanding
of mathematical principles. They perhaps know the
mechanics of doing a problem, but have rarely, if ever,
thought about why they do what they do, or in what
context they would use a particular principle. I need to
know where my students are before I try to lead them
further. Furthermore, they must have time to reconstruct
their own ideas based on new information, as well as time
to reflect on those new perceptions. And… I am supposed
to facilitate all that!
Thankfully, I just attended the 32nd Annual Critical
Thinking Conference6 in July that has given me some ideas.
I’d like to share with you some of the take-aways that I
gathered there. This conference was one of the conferences
offered by the Learning and Teaching Travel Committee.
I can highly recommend these conferences. I’ve been to
two conferences, one on assessments, and one on critical
thinking, and both have been extremely useful, not only for
the topic at hand, but also for the connections I have made
with faculty across campus. This conference was held in
beautiful Berkeley, California, on the bay at the Claremont
Resort and Hotel. The site was absolutely delightful.
I traveled with Omar Hansen, from Theatre, who headed
the group, Scott Galer from Foreign Languages, and
Stephen Smith from Sociology. What a great group of
thinkers with whom to be associated!
PERSPECTIVE | 4
I confess I was a little unsure what we might be talking
about at the conference, so I carefully read the web page at
www.criticalthinking.org and learned that critical thinking
is thinking about thinking. Richard Paul of the Foundation
and Center for Critical Thinking describes critical thinking
as “a systematic way to further sound thinking and limit
unsound thinking. It is the process and orientation of
taking command of our cognitive processes in order to
determine, in a reasonable way, what thinking to accept
and what to reject.”13 There is a great deal of vocabulary to
be assimilated to understand what the topic, but the effort
is well worth it, for the ideas are powerful.
We attended four workshops which looked a lot like
classes based on the Learning Model. We were frequently
asked to break into small groups and discuss some topic or
do an exercise and then reflect on it with the class. From
these learning activities, I finally put together the meaning
of some of the principles and vocabulary. All in all,
I learned some great ideas and thoroughly enjoyed getting
to know the faculty with whom I traveled.
In addition, I got a small library of books that address
just about every topic, Perspective, or application of
critical thinking to any discipline. For instance there
were: The Guide to Critical Thinking, How to Improve
Student Learning, Intellectual Standards, How to Study
and Learn, Critical Thinking Reading and Writing Test,
Scientific Thinking, How to Read a Paragraph, How to
Write a Paragraph, Historical Thinking, Analytic Thinking,
Engineering Reasoning, Critical Thinking Competency
Standards, and many more.14
Richard Paul, who delivered the keynote address,
described critical thinking “as the awakening of the
mind to the study of itself.” He went on to encourage
us to “discover our inescapable nature as thinkers and
to discover the problamatics of our thinking, false
beliefs, prejudices, and misunderstandings.” He asked
us to “discover the personal narratives in which we lead
our lives and to discover our capacities to consciously
intervene in our thinking.”
He then described the elements or universal structures
of thought and referred to intellectual standards, and
intellectual traits. I had never dissected my thought
processes in any such way before and it was a little mind
numbing. The elements of thought help us analyze our
thinking. The intellectual standards allow us to assess
our thinking. The intellectual traits describe the kinds of
thinkers we hope to become–or in the view of a teacher–
the kinds of the thinkers we hope to produce.
I cannot produce a
critical thinker without
first becoming one.
I cannot produce a critical thinker without first becoming one.
I had always assumed I must be a pretty good thinker, but as
I attended the conference and have studied these materials, I
have learned that I have much to learn and put into practice
and that by helping my students to learn critical thinking
skills, I am giving them opportunities to restructure their
preconceived notions and change their thinking.
HARMON | 5
Let’s look at the Elements of Thought.15 These are often
pictured using a wheel.
the material, but that there might be a better way to
teach it. I assume that students have at least some
understanding and experience with lower level math
content. They may like or dislike math. They often have
no idea why they do what they do. They are at least
marginally motivated because of the grade or their
desire to graduate.
4. What are the implications of my reasoning? I need to
know where the students are before I try to teach.
I need to watch my own assumptions about the students
and the material, and meet their needs for learning
rather than mine.
5. What information do I need to answer my question?
I need to know what the students know and how they
feel about math. I need to have good assessments to
see if they are learning or just memorizing.
6. What are my most fundamental inferences or
conclusions? The students will learn if I can help them
reconstruct their ideas effectively. If they don’t question
their own ideas and struggle to understand, they
“Starting at the top right, whenever we think, we think
for a purpose within a point of view based on assumptions
leading to implications and consequences. We use data,
facts, and experiences to make inferences and judgments
based on concepts and theories to answer a question or
solve a problem.”16
Let’s apply this wheel to the question of teaching
Mathematics (or English or Biology or Religion.)
probably will reject any ideas that don’t conform to what
they already think.
7. What is the most basic concept in the question?
Students learn by confronting their prior ideas and
experiences with new material, and rethinking what they
already believe.
8. What is the key question I am trying to answer?
How can I best accomplish teaching my students
Mathematics and mathematical thinking?
1. What is my fundamental purpose? I want to help students
learn principles, practices, and context for problem solving
in mathematics, to think mathematically and not just
memorize procedures to get the right answer.
2. What is my point of view? I am a trained professional
with many years of teaching experience. I was also a
student, but a good one. I did not have to struggle to
learn until I was in grad school, and I was motivated.
To help me assess whether my thinking is reasonable,
I can use the intellectual standards9. Likewise, if my
students internalize and routinely use these standards, their
thinking becomes more clear, accurate, precise, relevant,
deep, broad, and fair.
All thinking must be assessed for quality using Universal
Intellectual Standards,17 as described briefly below.
I need to make sure my point of view does not exclude
Clarity: understandable, the meaning can be grasped
others who are not like me.
Accuracy: free from errors or distortions, true
Precision: exact to the necessary level of detail
3. What assumptions do I make? I assume that I am
competent through education and experience to teach
Relevance: relating to the matter at hand
PERSPECTIVE | 6
This diagram shows how the elements, standards, and
traits all fit together.19
Depth: containing complexities and multiple
interrelationships
Breadth: encompassing multiple viewpoints
Logic: the parts make sense together, no contradictions
Significance: focusing on the important, not trivial
Fairness: justifiable, not self-serving or one-sided
These are not the only standards by which we can judge
thinking. Among others are credibility, reliability, and
practicality. For me, listing these standards was a revelation.
So often, I am distressed by the lack of reasoning skills that
my students exhibit. But I’ve never sat down and pulled
together a list of skills to help students improve. I’ve given
feedback on specific issues, one at a time, but never helped
students see the big picture. If I share these standards
with my students and then insist on their use, eventually
students will begin, one hopes, to think about what they
are thinking.
The Intellectual Traits18 are those I hope I possess and
ones that I hope my students will have developed, at least
somewhat, when they leave BYU-Idaho. These traits are
not acquired in one class, but developed over years of
conscious effort and practice.
The intellectual standards must be applied to
the elements of thought as we learn to develop
intellectual traits.
Don’t we all hope for our students and ourselves to gain
these intellectual traits. The glory of God is intelligence.
Wouldn’t these traits be valuable in any field, in any
discipline, in any job?
This conference was sponsored by the Foundation and
Center for Critical Thinking, which states that it “seeks to
promote essential change in education and society through
the cultivation of fair-minded, critical thinking. Only
when students learn to think through the content they are
learning in a deep and substantive way can they apply what
they are learning in their lives.”20
So, here’s a question. I hardly have time to cover the
topics in my class now! How can I find time to encourage
critical thinking? According to Richard Paul, “Content is
thinking and thinking is content.” To present one well is
to promote the other. As teachers and learners, he says we
need to “talk it, write it, and think it.” In his typical plan
for the day, an idea is introduced and a question posed.
HARMON | 7
The idea is then discussed. The students read the text or
some reading. Lastly, they assess their thinking using the
standards. Then the process repeats with another topic.
Richard Paul made a very interesting comment about
how students learn. He likened their learning to dots of
information scattered all over the place.
Unlike students, professionals in the field see those same
dots in relation to each other.
His point was that part of our job is to help the
students organize their dots to see the big picture. We
need to repeatedly connect the whole and its parts by
characterizing the whole (the big idea), working on a part,
then relating that part back to the whole, then investigating
another part, then relating that back to the whole and the
other part, and so on. Otherwise all the students take from
the course are scattered dots.
This is particularly important in an algebra class. The
textbooks for algebra are written so that each section
covers a single objective, with all the problems in that
section addressing that single objective. The next section
covers another objective, but never is there a connection
made between sections and/or the chapter title. Students
come away from the course believing that algebra has a
million little rules that apply at obscure times, and you
just have to memorize them all, instead of seeing the big
principles and applying them in various situations. All the
students take with them are scattered dots, as it were.
The dots at the center are the most important and form
the core or primary ideas. Richard Paul commented that
if you don’t get to all the outside topics, that’s OK because
things are changing and developing on the outside rings,
and the center is usually more stable.
One of the little books we received was Guide to Critical
Thinking. There were several great ideas in it. One is having
the students use the SEEI21 method. SEEI stands for State,
Elaborate, Exemplify, and Illustrate, and is used to guide
verbal questioning and discussion, as well as writing.
For instance, I might be talking about derivatives. I
might ask a student what a derivative is. After receiving an
answer, I might then ask him to elaborate. I might follow
his answer by asking him to give me some examples of
derivatives. Finally, I might ask him to illustrate what a
derivative is with a picture or a graph. This is exactly the
information I expect on an essay question on a test. I’m
lucky if I get two of those four parts, even after I give them
examples of what I’m looking for. SEEI is easy to remember
and gives direction to students as they write. I also realized
that I ask discussion questions on tests but never have my
students practice them in class.
An example of a template that I received from one
of the critical thinking practitioners, Dr. D’Silva of
PERSPECTIVE | 8
Norfolk State University, is available at www.tinyurl.
com/cwu4nh7. He uses the template to have his students
practice more meaningful writing every day. I already
have my students writing quite a bit, but I’m really
hoping to help them improve their thinking and their
writing with the SEEI method.
Only when they can
communicate their
thought effectively do
we have evidence of
deep learning.
3
A Private Universe. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 1987.
www.learner.org/resources/series28.html
4
Can We Believe Our Eyes? Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics,
1999www.learner.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=76
Lessons from Thin Air. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 1999.www.
learner.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=77
5
6
Driver, Rosalind. Minds of Our Own. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 1999. www.learner.org/resources/series26.html
7
Stoddart, Trish. Minds of Our Own. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 1999. www.learner.org/resources/series26.html
8
Whitney, Charles A. Minds of Our Own. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 1999. www.learner.org/resources/series26.html
9
Sadler, Phillip M. Lessons from Thin Air. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 1999. www.learner.org/vod/vod_window.html?pid=77
10
Stoddart, Trish. Minds of Our Own. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 1999. www.learner.org/resources/series26.html
11
Driver, Rosalind. Minds of Our Own. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 1999. www.learner.org/resources/series26.html
In summary, I have been on a little odyssey myself to
know, to do, and to become. I have learned about how
deep learning occurs, contrary to what I had imagined. I
have also learned some interesting ideas about analyzing
thought, and how to help students learn to analyze their
thoughts. Only when students can realize what they believe
and then logically and fairly confront those beliefs with
new information, can they begin to learn deeply. Only
when they can communicate their thought effectively do
we have evidence of deep learning.
I am so grateful to teach here at an institution which
values learning and teaching and provides us with so many
opportunities to grow. Growth is always hard, but I have
learned to rely on the Spirit to help me grow. I’m grateful for
President Clark’s words last night at the banquet, and I know
that they are true. Each of us has opportunity here to grow if
we will just choose to take it. And each of us can call on the
Spirit of the Lord to strengthen us when it gets hard. I know
this is true and important to know deeply as we strive to teach
and influence our youth and future leaders.
12
Sadler, Phillip M. Minds of Our Own. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 1999. www.learner.org/resources/series26.html
13
Paul, Richard. The 32nd Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking
and Education Reform.
www.criticalthinking.org/pages/32nd-international-conference/1070/
14
The Critical Thinking Community Bookstore.
www.criticalthinking.org/store/
15
Paul, Richard and Elder, Linda. The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools. The Foundation for Critical Thinking Press, 2009. p 3-6.
16
Paul, Richard and Elder, Linda. The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools. The Foundation for Critical Thinking Press, 2009. p 3-6.
17
Paul, Richard and Elder, Linda. The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools. The Foundation for Critical Thinking Press, 2009. p 8-12.
18
Paul, Richard and Elder, Linda. The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools. The Foundation for Critical Thinking Press, 2009. p 13-18.
19
Paul, Richard and Elder, Linda. The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools. The Foundation for Critical Thinking Press, 2009. p 19.
20
The Mission. The Center for Critical Thinking.
www.criticalthinking.org/pages/our-mission/405
21
Paul, Richard and Elder, Linda. Guide to Critical Thinking. The Foundation for
Critical Thinking Press, 2009. p 44.
References
1
Dallin H. Oaks, “The Challenge to Become,” Ensign, Nov. 2000. www.lds.org/
ensign/2000/11/the-challenge-to-become?lang=eng&query=challenge+become+h.+
(name%3a%22Dallin+H.+Oaks%22)
2
Minds of Our Own. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 1999.
www.learner.org/resources/series26.html
HARMON | 9
wherein lectures and a textbook are used to convey
knowledge, and student acquisition of knowledge is only
assessed with tests. The traditional classroom can no longer
keep up with the extraordinary pace of change that is
occurring with advances in technology.
A revolution is underway
in education to change
the face of the traditional
classroom.
Inverted
Curriculum:
Creating Content
Delivery
S T E V E N C H R I S T E N S O N & TO D D L . K E L S O N
Overview
In a talk given on Sept. 6, 2011, President Kim B. Clark
discussed a concept of learning that he claimed would
lead to “an increase in the capacity or power to Know, to
Do, and to Become.” We have applied this framework in
our biology classes by providing videos for the students
to watch outside of the classroom in order to assimilate
basic content knowledge. Then we use classroom time for
active learning strategies that deepen understanding and
introduce practical applications in the field of study. The
emphasis in the classroom changes from one of knowing
to one of doing. This pattern will prepare our students to
become better learners and future leaders in their careers.
A revolution is underway in education to change the
face of the traditional classroom and, with it, the way we
as teachers interact with our students. By using the term
“traditional classroom”, we are referring to an environment
We are seeing a transition occur between the traditional
classroom and what is now being called the “flipped
classroom”. The concept is fairly simple and harmonizes
well with the BYU-Idaho learning model. We provide
resources and require students to learn content on their
own outside of the classroom, and then we use class time
to review, answer questions, practice problems, and apply
concepts. In short, lecture is moved out of the class and
“homework” is moved in.
Although the concept has been around for decades,
it has experienced a renaissance in the last five years
spurred on by advances in technology that allow relatively
easy creation and dissemination of high quality multimedia content. Video lectures, or Screencasts as they are
often called, appeal to the current technology-centered
generation of students and are able to provide a multisensorial experience that has never been achievable
through printed text.
The use of screencasts to deliver content has several
advantages over traditional faculty lecturing. First, the
student can watch the screencast at his convenience, be
it just after school or later in the evening. He can watch it
on his laptop computer, tablet computer, or smartphone.
Second, the screencast may be stopped, rewound, and
watched again if the concept was not understood the first
time. A student may spend as much time as is necessary
to achieve mastery before moving on to the next concept.
In fact, the student can even return to the same material
weeks later when he needs to remediate for a more
advanced topic. And last, the screencast is able to deliver
PERSPECTIVE | 10
the same content material each time, whereas a lecturer
might alter his teaching plan with each lecture.
If a student has prepared in advance and already viewed
the lecture material, the classroom can now become a
place of active learning. While in the classroom, students
talk to each other and share ideas, at the same time
helping each other with the homework assignment. The
teacher becomes a coach instead of a lecturer, and walks
around the classroom helping where necessary. Having
just mastered the information for themselves, sometimes
students can answer each other’s questions better than the
teacher can.
This idea of flipping the classroom was made popular
by Aaron Sams who is a teacher at Woodland Park High
School. He made a YouTube video explaining how he
uses this process in his classroom (www.youtube.com/
watch?v=2H4RkudFzlc).
Salman Khan, a retired consultant who first started
making videos to assist his cousins learn algebra, has
played a role in the further advancement of inverted
curriculum with his videos teaching high school subjects.
(www.khanacademy.org) His website now contains an
assortment of videos that can be watched to learn at one’s
own pace.
In this paper we provide instructions on how we
produce our own screencasts, along with some data from
our Introduction to Biology course demonstrating the
advantage of screencasts to reading the textbook. We
present active learning strategies that lead to the deeper
learning we are trying to achieve.
To Know
We are in the process of producing our own content
screencasts for students to watch before they come to the
lecture. The computer software that we use is PowerPoint,
which allows us to make slides with animations. These
animations can follow a scientific process from start to
finish. In addition to PowerPoint, we use Camtasia, which
allows us to make a video with a voiceover attached to
it. A high quality microphone attached to the computer,
along with speakers, permit us to dub the Camtasia video.
In addition to drawing animations, we are also using
a Wacom tablet attached to the computer loaded with
SmoothDraw3 and Windows Journal software to produce
videos that scroll through the content, much like what you
see on Khan Academy.
Making screencasts is labor intensive and requires time
that faculty don’t necessarily have. To overcome this dilemma
we hire students to do the work for us. We sit down with a
student and write up an outline of what it is that we wish
to cover in the screencast. The student writes a script and
makes some initial drawings. We evaluate his work and
give feedback, and then the student begins the animation
process. We meet with each student weekly to discuss his
progress and make sure he is still on track. We provide all
of the resources on campus that the student will need to
complete this project, and we can even offer college credit
for students who spend many hours working for us. By
meeting together often we can correct mistakes early on
before the final product is released.
By using students to
produce our screencasts
we find that they can
explain things in a way
that their peers will
better understand.
After many revisions the final product is made available to
students in our classes. By using students to produce our
screencasts we find that they can explain things in a way
that their peers will better understand. It also teaches them
new skills on the computer, and they become proficient
with the content since they are mastering it while they
make the animations.
We produced our first two screencasts and were pleased
with what we had; however, we weren’t sure of their
efficacy over the printed text. Before investing more time
producing screencasts that teach content we decided to
perform an experiment to find out just how effective they
were in teaching students outside of the classroom. We
designed the experiment to test students who either read
the textbook or watched the screencast for a given chapter.
Students were brought into a laboratory where half of them
watched the screencast we produced. The other half sat quietly
and read their textbooks that covered the same material.
Then all of the students were given the same 20-question
quiz. The quiz covered all of the same material found in the
screencast and the textbook. Our data indicate that there was
no statistical difference between the two groups of students in
their test performance (See Figure below, Exam 1).
This experiment was done using content that had
previously been taught in lecture, so we undertook another
experiment on a subject that had not yet been covered in
lecture. The same parameters were used to test two sets of
students, one group reading the textbook and the other
group watching the screencast. This time there was a
significant difference between the two groups, with the
screencast group performing better on the quiz (See
Figure). These results are encouraging, to the point that we
are now producing a screencast for every lecture, and we
hope they will replace the use of our textbook.
In addition to testing the students, we also asked them
several personal preference questions. When asked if they
preferred the screencasts to the textbook many responded
that they preferred the screencast to the textbook for
preparing for class, but an overwhelming majority told us
Exam results from students who read the textbook or
viewed the screencast, then answered a multiple-choice
test. Sample size consisted of 123 students, with half
of them randomly chosen for each group. The results
between the 2 groups for Exam 1 were not statistically
significant (Two-tailed T test P value = 0.07). There was
a statistically significant difference for Exam 2 (Twotailed T test P value = 0.0002).
PERSPECTIVE | 12
they preferred the screencast in reviewing after the lecture
and using it to prepare for the test. Almost every student
told us they would recommend the screencasts to their
peers who are studying this material.
One of the strengths that sets these screencasts apart
from other screencasts already available on the Internet
is their modularity. Each screencast consists of 10-15
individual chapter segments. Each segment discusses
one concept. A student can go back and review just
one segment at a time and can jump forward, skipping
segments if they already know the material. An instructor in
another class can use some of the segments for his students
if he believes that they require some supplemental work.
The modular segment idea allows these screencasts to be
personalized for any classroom or subject.
To Do
Now that we have moved content out of the classroom, the
next question we asked was, how can we best utilize the
time we have in the classroom with our students? Our goal
should be to produce deep learning in our students. If they
come to class already understanding the material that they
were asked to learn on their own, we can now turn the
classroom environment into a place where they use critical
thinking skills to apply the newfound material to their own
situation. This change in the classroom setting is known as
Active Learning or the Learner-Centered classroom.
We will present a few ideas of how we have turned
our biology classroom into a center of active learning.
Most of these ideas came from websites that we found by
using a Google search of “Active Learning Strategies in
the Classroom.”
Think-Pair-Share
The teacher asks a question, then each student is given a
moment to quietly reflect on what he already knows. After
pondering, the student turns to his partner and shares
his knowledge verbally. Finally, student pairs are asked to
share their findings with a larger group or with the entire
class. Answers may be shared in oral or written format
depending on the time available.
Think-Pair-Share activities can be done at different
times during one class period. For example, at the
start of a class period to assess prior knowledge and/
or preparation, during a class period to summarize
what’s been learned or to apply new knowledge to a
novel situation, and/or at the end of a class period to
summarize what’s been learned and to lead into the
homework assignment or next classroom discussion.
CHRISTENSON & KELSON | 13
In Class Quizzes that Last the
Entire Class Period
We tell our students in advance to study the material
thoroughly and to use one side of a sheet of paper (cheat
sheet) to write any notes that they wish to use on the quiz.
They use i>clickers in class to answer questions for the
quiz. They may use their cheat sheet to help them. After
each question, we look at the classroom response. If a
significant number of students miss the question, then
we immediately lecture on that material in class. If most
students have answered the question correctly, we move
on to the next concept. This technique has saved us lots of
classroom time by not teaching material that the students
already understand, and spending more time on those
difficult concepts that the students need help with.
From Concepts to Pictures
Students are asked to draw a mechanism or process in their
notes from start to finish without writing any words. By
having an image in front of them, it helps them to visualize
the process and how the individual parts fit together.
Worksheets
A worksheet is provided to the student as homework.
They are expected to fill in all of the information on their
own. Then, when they bring it to class, the teacher can go
over some of the answers or use it to ask deeper learning
questions. This idea can also be used by asking the students to
bring an uncompleted worksheet and, while listening to the
discussion, fill in answers. This can work with a question such
as: What are the benefits and risks of this plan?
Brainstorming
Creativity is enhanced when students discuss a problem
and how they would solve it. Brainstorming works best if
there is not just one correct answer. Students can discuss
ideas and help each other to recognize if an idea answers
the question being asked.
Logical Analogies
There are models all around us that can be used to explain a
difficult concept. We use images or descriptions in class and
ask students how a model is similar or dissimilar to a concept
we are teaching. These compare and contrast activities help
solidify the concept in the mind of the student.
Role Playing
Getting students out of their seats is a useful way to energize
an otherwise bored student. We bring the students to the
front of the classroom and have them act out what we were
discussing in class. With minimal instructions, we allow the
students to figure out how it works. Through trial and error
they come up with a role and act it out for their peers.
Physical Modeling
Sometimes the ability to touch an object is a teaching aid
for the student. We use inexpensive objects to teach more
difficult-to-understand concepts. Modeling clay is a highly
versatile object that we use often. This is usually a fun way
to learn, and the students appreciate being able to handle
materials as they teach themselves.
Case Studies
A website at the University of Buffalo provides a wide array
of case studies for many scientific topics. These case studies
may or may not be based on real-life stories, but they
provide thinking activities for the student, and they open
up a large number of questions to be addressed.
In summary, we are using video presentations to deliver
content to the student. Each student prepares for class
by watching 20-30 minutes content in lieu of reading a
textbook. Students are more interested in watching than
in reading, and their enthusiasm carries over into the
classroom. Having learned the important content on their
own, they come to class with questions about material
they didn’t understand well. The teacher can then design
activities in the classroom to promote deeper learning of
the content.
Today’s students require new skills - the ability to think
deeply and to contribute outside their own discipline. The
use of screencasts, coupled with active learning techniques,
is one way in which we can prepare students to be better
equipped for the challenges they will face when they leave
the University and are expected to make contributions to a
dynamic world in which they live.
PERSPECTIVE | 14
Faculty-Mentored
Student Research
& Creative Works
at BYU-Idaho
DA N MO O R E, H E C TO R BE C E RRIL, JAC K FU L L E R,
YOHA N D E LTO N, & S TE V E C H RISTE N SO N
Imagine walking into a room full of very animated people
wandering among some very strange things. There are
bizarre mechanical contraptions alive with precise and
solemn motions that accomplish some clever purpose;
oversized toy boxes people can enter to see the world from
a disturbingly distorted Perspective; posters describing
the Machiavellian ways in which unsuspecting persons
are motivated to pay large sums for non-essential items;
artists who create beautiful objects right in front of your
eyes; performers bringing to life the thoughts and feelings
of geniuses long-since dead; and a dozen other equally
amazing things, all happening at once. As you walk inside
this room, an electrifying force grows within you. You start
asking questions you want to know. You need to know the
what, why, and how of everything you see and touch. At this
point, the most wonderful thing happens: You get answers!
Good answers—powerful, well thought-out, convincing
answers from young people who have paid the price to know
for themselves and learn to do, and who are in the path to
become experts in their craft. It is downright joyful to see
academic competence in our young people, and all of a
sudden it is all around you in this room of marvels!
Unfortunately, this Research and Creative Works
Conference seems to be one of the best kept secrets
on campus. But that is changing. The Brigham Young
University-Idaho (BYU-Idaho) Research and Creative
Works Conference is a tangible demonstration of student
achievements every semester on the Thursday before finals.
All faculty, students, and the Rexburg public are invited to
LUNDIN | 19
“come and see,” to ask hard questions, and to discuss with
the presenters their work. Expert judges also give feedback
regarding the professionalism of the presenter, and the
presenter’s ability to share and defend her or his work.
Such feedback blesses our students and accelerates their
progress towards becoming successful and independent
practitioners of their disciplines. Presenting at the R&CW
conference is sort of a rite of passage, where presenters
publically manifest that they are not the same individuals
they were before, that they are growing in talent, skill,
and mental prowess, and are better able to serve society
and the Kingdom. It is a mini-dissertation defense, and
thanks to the generous institutional support we enjoy,
our students have the chance to submit their work every
semester. Submissions to the conference are reviewed by
trained students and a faculty review board, and accepted
submissions are organized into self-similar sessions to
facilitate judging. All R&CW conference presenters receive
a participation certificate, and students who place 1st,
2nd or 3rd in their sessions receive an award certificate;
both are excellent resume builders. Most importantly,
the majority of R&CW conference presenters leave the
conference with increased academic confidence and higher
expectations of themselves.
How the R&CW Council
Supports Faculty & Students
The recently-established R&CW Council, which runs
the R&CW conference, exists to support faculty as they
provide students with many R&CW experiences. We do
this by (1) Promoting R&CW, (2) Training faculty and
students, (3) Interacting with off-campus organizations, i.e.,
the E-Center, SIRI, CUR, and etc. (4) Helping to administer
research funding, (5) Helping to oversee research
compliance issues, and (6) Administering the R&CW
Conference each semester. The R&CW Council is chaired
by Dan Moore and brings together representatives for each
R&CW area: Funding and Compliance (Yohan Delton &
Steve Christenson), the E-Center (Jack Fuller), SIRI (Dan
Moore), and the R&CW Conference (Hector Becerril). The
Council reports to Kelly Burgener, Associate Academic VP
for Instruction, and is supported by Brian Schmidt and his
staff from Learning & Teaching Development. In addition
to the R&CW Conference mentioned above, the R&CW
Council assists faculty and students through meeting
funding and compliance needs, the operation of the
E-Center, and the relatively new Southeast Idaho Research
Institute (SIRI). The sections below, each written by a
member of the R&CW Council, describe how each of these
programs support faculty and students.
Funding and Compliance
University funding and faculty fellowships are available
to support R&CW activities. Faculty can apply to
the following sources for support: their department
and college, Thomas E. Ricks Endowment, and the
Mentored Student Research Fund. Each funding source
has different modes of application: for department and
college funds speak with your department chair and
dean; for Thomas E. Ricks funds follow the instructions
at www.byui.edu/ter; for Mentored Student Research
funds follow the instructions at www2.byui.edu/SRFund.
Faculty fellowships are approved through College
Faculty Development Committees and, for 6-to-12hour fellowships, by the academic administration. For
questions about applying for faculty fellowships speak with
your department’s representative on the College Faculty
Development Committee, department chair, and/or dean.
We are hopeful that in the near future all applications—for
fellowships and funding—will be streamlined: they will
use the same form and will be directed to College Faculty
Development Committees. If this streamlined process
appeals to you, let your department chair and dean know.
University funding and
faculty fellowships are
available to support
R&CW activities.
As you pursue research objectives with faculty and
students, keep in mind that federal regulations mandate
that research involving human subjects, whether it is for
a simple survey or a complicated protocol, must receive
IRB (Institutional Review Board) approval. See www2.byui.
PERSPECTIVE | 16
edu/IR/irb.htm for more information. Similarly, research
involving animals must receive IACUC (Institutional
Animal Care & Use Committee) approval. See www.
iacuc.org/aboutus.htm for more information. Research
or projects that involve people (including the researcher)
and chemical agents, biological agents, or things as
simple as foods, etc., must adhere to the standards of
OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
and other governing bodies. See www.osha.gov/ and
related links for more information. For questions
about compliance issues contact Yohan Delton, Steve
Christenson, Scott Bergstrom, or Ric Page.
The E-Center
The Eastern Idaho Entrepreneurial Center (E-Center) is a
non-profit organization established in 2006 by Robert Pothier,
a retired businessman and venture capital partner, at the
request of BYU-Idaho President Kim B. Clark. The E-Center
was created to help grow the Eastern Idaho economy, as a
balance to the anticipated growth of BYU-Idaho.
A primary tool used by the E-Center is research-based
consulting projects prepared by students for businesses and
governments. The E-Center has completed approximately
400 projects, and currently averages 90 projects per year.
These projects have aided in bringing nearly 500 jobs and
over $20 million in venture capital and other investment
funding to the area.
Projects are completed by teams of paid student interns
and senior Business Capstone students. Fifteen interns
are hired each semester, with each intern completing two
projects and supervising a team of four Business Capstone
students on each project. Interns work 25 hours per week
and Capstone students work 4 hours per week, resulting in
approximately 200 hours of student research and analysis
per project. Starting with the Fall 2012 semester, remote
online Capstone students began participating in the
consulting teams.
E-Center interns are not “consultants” to their clients in
the typical consulting model, where recommendations are
made based on the experience of the consultant. Instead,
E-Center interns are mentored junior analysts for their
clients, and make recommendations based on the original
research and analysis of their consulting team. These teams
work directly with the client and take the lead in client
meetings and communication, just as they would if they
were junior analysts hired internally by the client.
Mentoring is what makes the E-Center model
advantageous for clients and students, and is provided by
E-Center personnel, BYU-Idaho faculty, and volunteer
mentors from the business community. For clients,
mentoring enhances the effectiveness and ease of using
the consulting team as their junior analysts, compared to
hiring the team internally. This means more internship
opportunities are created with businesses that might not
otherwise hire student interns. Further advantages for
students are that the internships are year round, the teams
gain direct client experience, and team members are able
M O O R E , B E C E R R I L , F U L L E R , D E LTO N , A N D C H R I S T E N S O N | 1 7
to live in Rexburg while working for clients that may be
outside the Rexburg area.
For more information about the E-Center contact Corey
Smith, Managing Director, or Amy Hunter, Assistant
Managing Director, at 208-356-5009, or visit the E Center
website at www.idahoecenter.org.
SIRI
SIRI was created in September of 2010 by Glenn Embree,
Robert Pothier, and Dan Moore to provide undergraduate
students with R&CW experiences. We accomplish our
mission by:
• Facilitating research collaboration between R&CW
teams (mostly at BYU-Idaho currently) and researchers at
educational, governmental, and industrial institutions
• Establishing new research programs
• Linking researchers and funding
• Providing valuable, low-cost research services
SIRI is a nonprofit charitable corporation, separate
from BYU-Idaho. Professors and administrators from
three Idaho universities and local businessmen compose
SIRI’s Board of Directors. SIRI staff include Bob Pothier
(Executive Director), Dan Moore (Research Director),
Richard Grimmet (Director, Center for Computing
Technologies), Jim Lamb (Director, Center for Plant,
Animal, & Food Science Research), Ericka Birch
(Administrative Director and Grant Writer), and Kaytlin
Thomas (Project Administrator and Finance Manager).
SIRI operates in two modes: as a grants office and as a
mentored-internship provider.
As a grants office, SIRI helps individual R&CW teams
find funding and helps external entities find R&CW teams
to perform research. When faculty develop project ideas
that involve students, SIRI helps them find and apply for
grant funding and administers that funding once awarded.
When external entities (e.g., businesses, government
agencies, or university researchers) have projects that
involve students, SIRI helps them find R&CW teams
interested in doing the work. SIRI staff support faculty by
performing administrative functions, allowing faculty to
focus on mentoring students. As a grants office, we have
been successful in being awarded funds from federal and
state government agencies, nonprofit foundations, and
corporations—in health sciences, earth sciences, family
studies, and economics.
As a mentored-internship provider, SIRI establishes
ongoing relationships with corporations and other entities
that have paid internship opportunities for students.
SIRI organizes an R&CW team—mentor and students,
administrative help, and office space and equipment. The
mentor provides internship work and funding. These
activities are organized into disciplinary research centers.
Currently we have the following research centers: The
Center for Computing Technologies; The Center for Plant,
Animal, and Food Science Research; and The Center for
the Study of the Earth. We are in the process of establishing
the following research centers: The Center for Technical
Writing; The Center for Marketing & Advertising; and
the Center for the Study of Learning and Teaching. SIRI
research centers have the capacity to provide meaningful
R&CW experiences for large numbers of students.
We invite faculty, departments, and colleges interested in
exploring how SIRI can help them educate students to
contact us.
Summary
There has never been a better time for R&CW on campus!
The future is bright and there are many opportunities
for faculty and students to research, create, evaluate, and
learn! We invite all to explore how the R&CW Council can
support you in blessing the students you serve. Find out
more at www.byui/RCW.
PERSPECTIVE | 18
An Expanded
Context for
Learning/Teaching
in Developing
Disciple Leaders
RICHARD GRIMMET T
Higher education, and BYU-Idaho along with it, is at
difficult crossroads. Students are faced with a dizzying
array of education choices, and the cost of these choices
is growing at an exponential level. There is no longer the
guarantee of employment at the end of the significant
time and monetary investment that is required by higher
education. In fact, some credible sources are not only
suggesting that a college education has a poor return on
investment, they are actively discouraging students from
attending college, taking a position that it actually limits
the ability of students to be successful in the real world.
In order to respond appropriately, universities need to
understand the changing nature of today’s world and
structure an education that provides students with the
greatest opportunity to be successful in that world. This
article attempts to describe what this changing world
looks like and provide some direction so we at
BYU-Idaho can stay relevant in preparing our students
for this new environment.
In order to do this we must first understand the
difficult situation that our young people face. It is no
understatement that we are in the midst of an economic
revolution. The US is rapidly moving from an industrial
based to an information based economy. This revolution
is similar to the one that the country went through at the
end of the 19th and the start of the 20th century when
the economy was agriculturally based, and then moved
to an industrial based economy. Millions were affected by
the move from farm to factory. Our current educational
system was actually created to support this migration,
and higher education was a significant contributor to this
success. Before the industrial revolution, only the very
wealthy had access to higher education. By the end of this
migration, higher education was generally available to all.
At its height, graduating from a college or university almost
guaranteed the graduate a job.
However, we are now in the midst of another
revolutionary change in this country. The demise of
manufacturing as a core competency is well documented.
Today’s economy is no longer driven by blue collar jobs
with white collar jobs to manage and supervise these
workers. The work environment that our students face is
fundamentally different. There are no time cards, no eight
hour days, and punctuality and dependability are no longer
GRIMMETT | 19
the defining characteristics of the ideal employee. A head
full of interesting facts, and the ability to think critically
about them, is no longer enough to guarantee employment,
let alone success. As noted in a recent newspaper article,
only a little more than half of recent college graduates
are working in jobs that require a college education. This
means that a significant number of students are not
prepared to contribute to our economy or to effectively
provide for their families.
A significant number
of students are not
prepared to contribute
to our economy or to
effectively provide for
their families.
If higher education is to remain relevant, we must ask
ourselves, “What essential knowledge and attributes can we
develop in our students to make them successful in today’s
environment?” The answer is two-fold. First, we must
understand the types of knowledge our students require to
be attractive to potential employers, and second, we must
understand the types of attributes our students need to be
successful in the new knowledge-based economy.
It should come as no surprise that BYU-Idaho, and
every institution of learning, must keep current with the
needs of it students with respect to subjects that it deems
essential knowledge. Few would argue that a curriculum
that required Greek and Latin would benefit students
today. However, it is important to note that this sort
of change is always very difficult, as those involved in
evaluating these changes rarely spend time in the very
society that is requiring the change. What normally
happens is the students themselves are the first to notice
that the education they receive is not the education they
need to meet their career goals. Educators then respond to
the outcry and add more to their course of study, and the
programs become longer, more expensive, and often still
don’t address the real needs of the students.
Unfortunately, to cover just this topic, key changes
that need to be made to the curriculum to help students
be more prepared for a knowledge based society, would
require much more space than is available here. However,
one very important aspect to note is the need for a massive
increase in the number of additional graduates in science,
technology, engineering and/or math. This is perhaps
the most important economic issue facing this country
today, and perhaps the single most important factor in
determining the employment outlook students will face.
As noted in a recent article in Time magazine, the jobs that
are being created in the current knowledge based society
are of two types; low-paying service jobs and high paying
jobs requiring significant science or math skills. Students
who graduate without these skills will struggle to find
employment that makes use of their college education.
But changing the subjects that higher education
emphasizes is only a part of the problem. We must also
address the skills that we develop in our students. For a
majority of the past century the focus of higher education
has been to impart a set of facts and figures that students
would quickly digest, then regurgitate, then flush so the
next set of facts and figures could take their place. The need
for a deeper understanding, and a critical mind so that
individuals could actually use the facts and figures that were
thrown at them, came much later in the century. The idea
that students should actually be able to think for themselves
and process new data using these critical minds, has recently
inspired new approaches to teaching and learning.
However, this is still not enough. This approach suffers
from the same shortcomings as attempts to change the
curriculum. It is too little, too late. A knowledge based
society certainly requires more than just an ability
to memorize facts and figures, and a critical mind is
imperative. However, the need goes beyond this. Today’s
students also need to be able to innovate and collaborate.
Innovation is the life blood of a knowledge-based society,
and companies that do it well dominate in a knowledge
based society. These companies expect their employees to
be able to innovate as a core competency. Again, this topic
alone could take much more space than I am afforded
here, but it is important to note that much in the current
approach of higher education actually hinders students
developing this ability to innovate. Part of the challenge is
PERSPECTIVE | 20
the misconceptions we hold about innovation. The lone
genius, the mad scientist, alone in his lab, creating the next
life changing gadget by himself, using only the knowledge
of his own mind, is outdated. The most important books
in this area are books like Steal Like an Artist, Invention
as a Social Act, and No Fear of Failure. Do we teach our
students to leverage the knowledge of others? Do we teach
our student how to fail? Do we teach our students how to
work with others?
This leads us to the next topic. For a number of years
employers clamored that they needed students who could
communicate. So in response, universities added writing
classes. However, the knowledge based society needs
students who not only can communicate, but students
who can collaborate. The industrial society isolated
people. Individuals focused primarily on their own work,
and communicated via written documents to a set of
individuals, most of whom they didn’t even know and
would never meet. The knowledge-based society actually
crams us all together. We are more familiar with all aspects
of our projects, and all the people who work on them.
And we communicate through a much wider set of media.
Writing is less important. More important is the ability
to communicate via voice and virtual face-to-face media.
Teleconferencing is now the dominant communication
method, and ideas are much more likely to be presented on
Youtube than they are via a written report.
The knowledge based
society needs students
who not only can
communicate, but
students who can
collaborate.
Fortunately, we attend a university that has the benefit
of prophetic insight. President Eyring’s inspired words
provide direction. He could have suggested that the
defining characteristic of our students would be their
intellect, or their ability to think critically. Rather he
focuses on innovation and collaboration as critical
attributes that would set our students apart:
You can imagine the joy of an employer or a Church
leader when such a graduate arrives. The graduates will
be at personal peace by having kept the commandments.
They will be natural leaders who know how to teach and
how to learn. They will have the power to innovate and
improve without requiring more of what money can
buy. Those graduates of BYU-Idaho will become—and
this is a prophecy that I am prepared to make and make
solemnly—those graduates of BYU-Idaho will become
legendary for their capacity to build the people around
them and to add value wherever they serve.
But collaboration goes beyond communication. It speaks
to leadership, followership, accountability, and other key
traits that students must learn if they are to be successful in
the knowledge based society. And we need to ask ourselves,
where will they learn these key skills?
The challenge we face now is to decide if we are willing
to respond to the changes around us and develop students
who can contribute in this knowledge-based society. It will
require change. But change is a central part of the gospel,
and so should it be a central part of our very nature.
GRIMMETT | 21
supervisor harnessed, those with multipliers reported they
were giving almost twice (1.97 times) as much as those
who worked for diminishers (11).
The book reminded me of an experience I had years
ago when I was transitioning from being an attorney to
an executive. One day, a consultant with whom I worked
closely took me up on my invitation to tell me what I
needed to hear and not what he thought I wanted to hear.
“Rob,” he said with the door closed, “I bet you were a great
attorney. But you have to shift gears to succeed in this new
role. Your aim can’t be to simply work harder and get this
project done yourself. Your focus has to be on how to get
the most out of your team and how to help them succeed.”
Teachers as
Multipliers
R O B E ATO N
I recently read Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make
Everyone Smarter, an illuminating book by Liz Wiseman
and Greg McKeown on how leaders can help others more
fully realize their potential (HarperBusiness, 2010). The
gist of the book is that as leaders in organization, we
choose between magnifying and multiplying the talents of
those who work for us or micromanaging and unwittingly
demoralizing them. The focus of those leaders the authors
call multipliers tends to be building and enabling others so
that the team can get things done. By contrast, the focus of
those the authors call diminishers tends to be to get things
done themselves, with or without the help of their teams.
According to the authors, multipliers tend to “see
intelligence around them,” which is why they then “create
an environment where ideas can be heard and where
intelligence can be given, grown, and stretched through
challenge” (94). Conversely, as the authors researched
diminishers, they discovered that their “focus on their own
intelligence and their resolve to be the smartest person in
the room had a diminishing effect on everyone else” (5).
Not surprisingly, when the authors surveyed employees
about how they would characterize their bosses and
then asked what percentage of their own capacity their
Your focus has to be on
how to get the most out
of your team and how
to help them succeed.
As my team would undoubtedly tell you, I still struggle to
fully implement this consultant’s advice and the counsel
from Multipliers, but I hope that even just being aware
of the issue has made me a better leader—and a better
teacher. Last semester, a student in my Book of Mormon
class e-mailed me asking what a particular phrase in 3
Nephi 13 meant. I was delighted to have a student ask
a question, and happier still that it was one to which I
actually knew the answer. But before I sent him the answer,
I vaguely recalled the principle taught to me not only by
Multipliers and the consulting partner, but by Elder Bednar.
As a newly ordained apostle, he once visited my class and
answered students’ questions. At one point, he recited a
scripture from memory but did not provide a reference.
A student raised his hand and asked for the reference. “If
I tell you,” answered Elder Bednar calmly, “you’ll never
remember. But if you discover it for yourself, you’ll
never forget.”
Rather than answer the student’s question, I sent him
a link to a couple of resources I recommended, with a
request that he tell me what he learned. Within an hour or
two, he had e-mailed back enthusiastically to report that
PERSPECTIVE | 22
he had found the answer, which he shared with me (and he
was right). I sensed he had learned far more than if I had
given him the answer myself. On that occasion, at least, I
had been a multiplier as a teacher rather than a diminisher.
But I wonder how many similar opportunities I have missed
because I was eager to demonstrate my knowledge and
intelligence rather than to develop it in my students.
my scripture courses in a way that essentially supported
that outcome. Over time, I have included two very different
outcomes in my course objectives:
1. You will be better able to dig deeply into the scriptures to
glean insights with the help of the Spirit.
2. You’ll be even more likely to make a life–time pursuit of
studying the scriptures.
I wonder how many
similar opportunities
I have missed because I
was eager to demonstrate
my knowledge and
intelligence rather than to
develop it in my students.
As we focus more consciously on what we can do to “create
an environment where ideas can be heard and where
intelligence can be given, grown, and stretched through
challenge[,]” it can affect both the outcomes we choose
for our courses and the way we conduct ourselves in our
classrooms. I doubt any of us has ever written a course
objective that reads, “Students will listen to and be able to
regurgitate the teacher’s favorite insights on this subject.”
Yet a few years ago I realized that I had structured some of
I try to reinforce these outcomes by exposing students to
a variety of scripture study skills throughout the semester
and requiring them to use them. I also remind students
that if all they glean from the course are my insights, their
learning will end when the semester does. But if they learn
to glean insights for themselves, they will continue learning
for life. As I shifted my focus in my scripture-based courses
more explicitly to cultivating the ability to read the text
carefully, I noticed that my multiple-choice final no longer
matched my new outcomes. So I replaced it with an essay
test in which students demonstrate their ability to use
scripture study skills to dissect a chapter of scripture.
When it comes to conducting class, this insight from
Multipliers makes me wonder how many times I have
inadvertently sent the message that I’m the only one who
can answer their questions: “Diminishers appear to believe
that really intelligent people are a rare breed and I am
one of the few really smart people. They then conclude,
other people will never figure things out without me” (18).
For the record, I am not one who believes students can
never learn from a good lecture. To the contrary, I believe
teachers can and should play a critical role in synthesizing
E ATO N | 2 3
miss by reading them separately?” I discovered that in a
relatively short period of time, I could ask individualized
questions of almost all the students in my class. And in the
process, I’d shifted the focus to them as learners and away
from me as the teacher.
discussions and providing explanations, usually in small
doses but occasionally even in larger ones. But if I insist in
reserving almost all the air-time in every class for myself,
what message do I send to my students about my belief in
their abilities? And am I really helping them grow, or am I
simply reinforcing the notion that they can only master the
material if I personally guide them through it?
Even before the advent of the Learning Model, I always
strived to actively involve my students in the learning
process. However, when I taught a class online, I realized
how much more I could do in this regard. In the first
couple of weeks of facilitating the discussion board, I found
myself typing up lengthy posts with my insights. But I
quickly realized I simply did not have the time to post such
comments for every student in the class. So I shifted gears
and asked myself, “How can I have the biggest impact on
individual student learning in an hour?” I still post shorter,
substantive comments on occasion, but I have largely
shifted my focus to leveraging my time by asking students
questions like these: “How did you reach that conclusion?”
“That reminds me of Moses 1. Do you see any parallels
there?” “What do you think Mormon means when he
refers to the ‘heavenly gift’?” “How might this principle
affect the way you parent your children?” “If you read John
8 and 9 together, what insights do you gain that you might
I have discovered
a surprising way in
which teachers can
inadvertently be
diminishers: when we
allow a few students
to dominate the
discussion.
Finally, in face-to-face classes I have discovered a
surprising way in which teachers can inadvertently be
diminishers: when we allow a few students to dominate the
discussion. As I asked students about this in preparation
for a presentation on that topic one year, I was a bit taken
aback at the intensity of their feelings on the subject. Many
of my students were downright irked by classmates who
dominated discussion, and they held their professors
responsible for failing to rein them in. Regardless of who
was to blame, the effect of such a situation was clear: more
introverted students tended to withdraw and become
passive observers, yielding the floor to their classmates
who enjoy being on center stage.
I do not mean to suggest I have found all the answers.
But as I have begun asking how I can do more to
multiply the capacity of my students rather than simply
measure it, I believe it has made me a more careful and
productive teacher.
PERSPECTIVE | 24
me exactly what you want me to do to get an ‘A’ in this
class.” Her insights, advice, and answer to this student were
enlightening. She wrote,
“The student wanted an itemized, step-by-step format for
pleasing the professor. I don’t really blame the student for
requesting such a simplistic approach to education–after
all, isn’t this how we’ve ‘trained’ our students to advance
through our educational system? Years of passively
submitting to the demands of the teacher in an effort to
obtain–not earn–a degree have made a lasting impression
on our students.”
Years of passively
submitting to the
demands of the teacher
in an effort to obtain–not
earn– a degree have
made a lasting impression
on our students.
Teaching for
Understanding
and Beyond:
A Developing
Teaching and
Learning Model
W I L L I A M J. R I G G I N S J R .
Discovery and Self
Examination
Soon after being hired by the Church Educational System
in 1995, I came across an article in the Opinion section
of The San Diego Union-Tribune that caused me to look
deeply at my own teaching and learning philosophy. It
caused me to assess and evaluate the happenings of my
classroom and my own teaching style. The editorial was
written by Janet Castanos, a well-known professor and
later Dean at Grossmont College. She began the article
by telling of a student who came to her asking, “Just tell
“The traditional lecture-style format, where the teacher
gives the student all of the information they will need to
pass the course, is quickly becoming a thing of the past...
The Information Age has much different demands. It is
asking our teachers to be facilitators of learning, whereby
students actively participate in the educational process.”
“Today’s employers are looking for people who can solve
problems, work with co-workers collaboratively, acquire
information and stay informed about the ever-changing
world... All people must become empowered to perform to
their potential in order for our society to fully succeed...
Students must be taught how to access information for
themselves and to use that information in meaningful
ways–ways that will benefit their communities, their
schools, their society. . . Empowerment moves us away
from the notion that others will solve our problems for us...
Empowerment is the key and our educational system is the
impelling force.”
RIGGINS | 25
“I responded to my student’s tell-me-what-to-do request
with a question, ‘What areas are you interested in exploring
further that is within the framework of the course
objectives and expectancies?’”
“The student responded, ‘There are many things I’m
interested in, but what do you want me to do?’”
“I want you to research, observe, explore, write about,
question and present on the topics of most interest to you
as it relates to this course.”
“Oh, wow, that’s hard!”
“It is hard if you’ve been spoon-fed information your
whole life. Isn’t it exciting that the world is changing?”
For the next few years I thought about, studied, and
peddled the idea of teachers becoming “facilitators of
learning” rather than dispensers of information in order to
empower their students. I believed in the philosophy but an
excellent model for implementation had eluded me.
The Seed for a Teaching and
Learning Model
Almost ten years after I first crossed paths with this article,
Elder Rolf Kerr was asked to serve as commissioner of the
Church Educational System. On March 25, 2005, while
visiting an in-service meeting in Southern California, he
introduced us to “four pillars of the learning process” that
he had developed over 30 years of involvement in higher
education. At the time I was in the process of working on
my doctoral degree and was very intrigued by these pillars.
I asked him if anyone had ever studied or researched the
validity of his pillars. Though he was confident in the
validity of his model he admitted that no one had.
I asked his permission to use it as part of a comparison
study that I was hoping to complete as part of my
dissertation and was granted permission. The ultimate
outcome of the study in 2006 was the combining of best
practices from the Seminary and Institute Teaching
Emphasis, Howard Gardner’s Teaching for Understanding
Model, and Elder Kerr’s model. In the last six years the
model has continued to evolve.
At the time, 2005, Elder Kerr believed, and existing
research seemed to support, the notion that most
classroom instruction and learning reached the state
of “acquisition of knowledge” but rarely reached the
phase of understanding . Elder Kerr’s pillars expressed
the notion that true learning takes place when knowledge
becomes the foundation for understanding which should
lead to belief and ultimately to application or change. In
an address given on February 3, 2006, to CES Religious
Educators, Elder Kerr expressed his beliefs of the
educational process.
“The acquisition of knowledge is merely the first level of
learning. This must be followed by our students’ coming
to a clear understanding of that which they have come to
know. Even knowledge with understanding is not enough.
Those we serve must rise to a level of belief that makes
learning meaningful and operable in their lives. They
must recognize that what they have come to know, what
they have come to understand, and what they have come
to believe should change their lives, bringing happiness
PERSPECTIVE | 26
and the blessings of heaven in this life and through the
eternities to come.”
In connection with this process Elder Kerr taught that,
knowing answers the question, “What is it?” Knowing
should lead to a desire to understand, which answers
the question, “What does it mean?” Understanding is
a congruent step to belief, which answers the question,
“What does it mean to me?” Belief is the natural foundation
for an invitation to act or to change, which answers the
question, “What am I going to do about it?”
In applying these concepts, a teacher preparing a lesson
plan would ask, “After my students have participated in the
learning process…
1. What do I want them to know?
Harvard’s Project Zero:
Learning for Understanding
As stated earlier, Howard Gardner and those who worked
with him at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
discovered that “understanding is ‘broke’ far more often
than we can reasonably tolerate.” They discovered that, “.
. .students remembered a lot of facts or algorithms, but
they could not think and act critically and creatively in a
discipline.” Knowledge alone is not enough.
After seven years of research and with the assistance
of hundreds of teachers, Gardner’s group developed
“Central Questions About Teaching” and “The Teaching
for Understanding Framework” that they believed would
develop student’s ability to understand deeply.
2. What do I want them to understand?
3. What do I want them to believe?
4. What do I want them to act upon, do, or change?”
This simple diagram depicts this process,
Change / Application – (What am I going to do about it?)
Belief – (What does it mean to me?)
Understanding – (What does it mean?)
Knowledge – (What is it?)
Development and
Implementation of a Teaching
and Learning Model
In trying to understand what this model meant to
me, my research and continual experimentation lead
me to Howard Gardner’s “Project Zero: Learning for
Understanding,” President David A. Bednar’s “Key
Learning Process,” and most recently to President Kim B.
Clark’s “Change Cycle.”
RIGGINS | 27
as they prepare to teach and assess and evaluate what they
have taught.
1. “What shall I teach? Design curriculum around
generative topics, topics that have great connection to
students’ interests and experience, and that are central
1. “Am I engaging my students in performances that help
to the discipline.”
them truly build their own understanding?”
2. “What is worth understanding? Clearly articulate and
2. “Am I sure about the few things I really want my
share with your students your goals of understanding,
students to understand?”
[and] what you most want your students to understand
3. “Have I clearly shared those goals with my students, so
from their experience with you.”
that they can actively participate in achieving them?”
3. “How shall we teach for understanding? Engage
4. “Am I engaging them in inquiry about a topic that they
your students in performances of understanding,
performances that cause students to do a great deal of
truly care about, that I care about, and that ultimately is
thinking when using, applying, and enriching what they
at the heart of the discipline I teach?”
know in challenging, disciplinary work. “
5. “Am I practicing learning-centered assessment,
involving my students in their own assessments based
4. “How can teachers and students know what students
on criteria that are clearly articulated?”
understand and how can they develop deeper
understanding? Practice ongoing assessment, learning
centered assessment throughout instruction that actively
involves you and your students in constant reflection
about what is being learned, how it is being learned, and
why is it being learned. “
The Project Zero researchers articulated a few questions
that they recommended that every teacher ask themselves
Gardner’s research, discoveries, and framework helped
me to put “meat on the bones” of the first two aspects
of Elder Kerr’s teaching and learning pillars, but it did
very little for belief and change that are so critical in
the learning process of the Church Educational System,
regardless of the discipline.
PERSPECTIVE | 6
student and/or teacher must break down the experience.
Deep learning is not linear and can begin and be identified
in different stages of the process. For deep learning to take
place action and application must be included. Lastly, the
catalyst to deep learning is in the power of questions. In
a training session on March 31, 2005, President Bednar
taught the following,
“Questions play an important role in inviting inspiration.
Powerful priesthood leaders (teachers) learn personally,
and they help others to learn, through penetrating and
inspired questions….You will have opportunity to ask
questions: hopefully, not only in a spirit of seeking to
obtain answers, but in a spirit of identifying questions that
will invite individual inspiration.”
President Kim B. Clark’s –
Change Continuum
President David A. Bednar’s –
Key Learning Process
In 2006 I became acquainted with a “key learning process”
that President David A. Bednar had begun to develop and
had given to one of my colleagues in its unfinished form.
The main ideas derived from the model synchronized
nicely with the outcomes developed by the researchers
at Project Zero but can be viewed as a catalyst to take
learning deeper, from the mind to the heart. Consider the
following diagram as my depiction of the “key learning
process” as described in the following paragraphs.
“Key Learning Process”
Experience
Apply
Action Plan
?
Reflect
ID Key Learning
The key learning process includes so much more than
just what happens in the classroom or the experience.
According to the model, for deep learning to take place a
Earlier this year I had the opportunity of sitting in on
a class being taught by President Clark and one of my
colleagues. The class, which would include a case study,
was introduced with a model that was drawn on the board.
I saw it as critical to my growth of understanding and
application of Elder Kerr’s seed.
See Eternal
Possibilities
Believe
Change is
possible
Decide to
Change
Change
Secular educators in most disciplines seek to inspire the
learning of facts as a knowledge base, and some add the
dimension of understanding. Religious educators add to
the secular by seeking spiritual or affective edification
leading to behavioral modification. Educators within the
secular disciplines that strive to teach ethical principles
and social responsibility share some similarities with
religious education and strive for an innate transformation
of belief and disposition. Researchers suggest that there are
great similarities in secular and spiritual learning including
pedagogy and the cognitive process. The secular side of
education may not word the process the same as President
Clark worded it in his religion class but the principles are
the same.
RIGGINS | 29
Conclusion
Seventeen years have passed since I first read Janet
Castano’s editorial in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Seven years have evaporated since I was introduced to
Elder Kerr’s four pillars of the learning process. In those
many years I have asked myself thousands of times if I am
a spoon feeder dispensing knowledge, or an empowering
agent of change as a facilitator of learning. My students
are not only introduced to Elder Kerr’s four pillars of
learning, but they, too, are encouraged to build upon them
with the help of Harvard’s “Teaching for Understanding
Framework,” President Bednar’s “Key Learning Process,”
and of late, President Clark’s “Change Continuum.”
What have I discovered? Even now I discover that most
students think that Elder Kerr is asking the same question
in four different ways. Second, I have discovered that
most of my students have never thought about reflecting
to identify what they have learned even when they are
doing it. Third, I have found that until students begin
their “major” classes or clusters, they believe that action
and application are not relevant. Fourth, I have found
that when I clearly articulate and share with my students
our goals of understanding, that learning becomes fresh,
exciting, and personal. Last of all, I have found that selfassessment, self-evaluation, and continual evaluation of
our pedagogy are not easy, but it is worth it.
In a president’s council meeting held on February 1,
2008, President Clark made a comment that I believe is the
epitome of and the summary of what I have written.
“I think that to implement the Learning Model effectively,
the faculty need to design the experiences. It is not just
enough to figure out the sequence of the topics or what
kind of materials; you really need have to think about
what you want to have happen in the class and then
design those experiences.”
References
1
Learning in a new age of interaction, The San Diego Union-Tribune, October 20,
1995
2
Teaching for understanding, David Perkins, American Educator: The Professional
Journal of the American Federation of Teachers; v17 n3, pp. 8, 28-35, Fall 1993.
3
Clarity of focus and consistency of effort, W. Rolfe Kerr, The Educator: For Teachers and Leaders of Seminary and Institute; Feb. 3, 2006
4
Teaching for understanding, David Perkins, American Educator: The Professional
Journal of the American Federation of Teachers; v17 n3, pp. 8, 28-35, Fall 1993.
5
Teaching for understanding: Questions to ask yourself and your students, Chris
Unger, New Horizons for Learning, www.newhorizons.org/strategies/understanding/unger
6
Learning Our Duty, President David A. Bednar, March 31, 2005, Address to
General Authorities and Area Seventies
7
Moses 1; John 14:26; 2 Nephi 33:1; D&C 11:12-14; Mosiah 4:1-2; 5:2; Alma
23:5-7, 13; 24:7-18; Helaman 15:7-10
8
Saranson, S.B. (2001). American psychology and schools: A Critique. New York,
NY: Teachers College Press
9
President Kim B. Clark, President’s Council Q&A, February 1, 2008, As quoted
in the Scroll
PERSPECTIVE | 6
For the “expound, exhort, teach, invite” teaching pattern
(as assigned to teachers in D&C 20:59, hereafter referred
to as EETI) the exhortation, teaching, and invitation
components are already widely represented in literature
available to educators, both religious and secular. 1 But
expounding—a term typically used to denote expanding
upon, explaining, or teaching—seems redundant in a
pattern that already includes the word “teach.” A closer
look at the word “expound” and its application in the Book
of Mormon reveals a teaching practice that kept students
attentive, engaged, and motivated to learn in ancient times.
A closer look at the
term expound and its
application in the Book
of Mormon reveals a
teaching practice that
kept students attentive,
engaged, and motivated
to learn in ancient times.
Pattern of the
Prophets:
Expounding
in the Book of
Mormon
J E N N Y TO N K S
To Expound
Among the Lord’s instructions to priesthood officers in
D&C section 20, a teaching pattern emerges:
The “expound” component of this EETI teaching pattern,
defined in the dictionary as “to set forth; to explain by
setting forth,2 implies the need for scripture or written
word for the teacher to “set” before the student. Consider
the following scriptures:
Teach, expound, exhort (v. 42)
Teach, expound, exhort (v. 46)
Teach, expound, exhort (v. 50)
Expound, exhort, teach (v. 59)
This “teach, expound, exhort” pattern—typically followed
by a fourth component, “invite,” that appears less
often than the other three—was utilized by the Book
of Mormon prophets from Nephi to Moroni, and was
such an effective teaching tool that even the Lamanites
utilized it when calling their people to arms against the
Nephites. The purpose of this article is to take a closer look
at one component in this pattern that is not given equal
representation in the literature available to educators.
“I, Nephi, write more of the words of Isaiah … and I
will send them forth unto all my children …” (2 Ne 11:2,
emphasis added).
“You have that which is written before you” (D&C 18:30).
“Lay hold upon the gospel of Christ, which shall be set
before you, not only in this record but also in the record
which shall come unto the Gentiles from the Jews . . .”
(Mormon 7:8, emphasis added).
TONKS | 31
opposite: i.e. the past is in front of me (before my face)
and the future is behind me (at my back). The image is
visual, something like rowing a boat across a lake. The
receding shoreline is ‘in front of you,’ where you are
headed is ‘at your back’, behind you. You view the ‘past’the receding shore-in order to fix your course for where
you are going.”4
Expounding does appear synonymous with looking
forward to the past in the following verse, where all of the
components in the EETI teaching pattern are mentioned:
“The prophets … and the teachers, did labor diligently,
exhorting … the people to diligence; teaching the law
of Moses … persuading them to look forward unto
the Messiah, and believe in him to come as though he
already was. And after this manner did they teach them”
(Jarom 1:11, emphasis added).
Such uses of “setting forth” in the Book of Mormon
indicate that there is more to expounding than common
usage that denotes teaching, lecturing, or explanation.3
Other scriptures suggest a different definition as well:
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, [Christ]
expounded unto them in all the scriptures…” (Luke 24:27,
emphasis added).
Christ “did expound all things, even from the beginning
until the time that he should come in his glory” (3 Nephi
26:3, emphasis added).
But in these scriptures, was Christ teaching from past
to future in addition to expounding, or did He teach from
past to future per definition of expounding? Evidence in
the scriptures seems to point to the latter, as will be shown
later. I therefore propose that the definition of to expound
might mean “to ‘set forth’ the past” or to set the past before
our learners.
According to Catholic Priest Donald Senior and Jewish
scholar H.W. Wolff, the past was perceived differently in
ancient times than it is today:
“In biblical Hebrew the way of referring to past and
future has the opposite orientation than does either
Although expound and invite aren’t named in this verse,
I believe that they are defined here as helping learners “to
look forward” to the past and “persuading,” respectively.
A Prophet’s Art
Note how Jacob’s sermon follows the EETI pattern in
these verses:
TEACHING
METHOD
EXAMPLE
E X PO U N D
(place the past before
the learner)
Recounts Jewish History
2 Nephi 6
EXHORT
(admonish or advise;
testify5)
“I have read these things that ye might
know … I speak unto you these
things that ye may rejoice … I know
that ye have searched … I know that
ye know …”
2 Nephi 9: 1-5
T E AC H
Quotes Isaiah; uses anaphora: “O the
greatness …. O the great holiness…
[but] wo unto them who … wo unto
them who … wo unto them who …”
2 Nephi 7-8
INVITE
“Remember my words … turn away
from your sins … prepare your souls.”
2 Nephi 9:44-54
English or French. While we say, ‘the past is behind me’
and ‘the future is in front of me,’ the biblical idiom is the
PERSPECTIVE | 32
Here is only one of many instances in which Alma ‘s
teaching also models this pattern:
TEACHING
METHOD
EX POUN D
(evoke the past)
EXAMPLE
• Amulek begins his sermon by expounding their
genealogy (Alma 10)
“My father, Alma … did baptize his
brethren in the waters of Mormon …
they were delivered out of the hands
of the people of king Noah … after
that, they were brought into bondage … we were brought into this land,
and here we began to establish the
church of God ...”
Alma 5: 3-5
EX HOR T
(admonish or advise;
testify)
“[These things] are made known unto
me by the Holy Spirit of God…”
v. 46
T EACH
Socratic: Have ye been born of God?
… his image engraven on your countenances? … etc
vv. 6-56
I NV I T E
Other examples of prophets and teachers expounding
(while also exhorting, teaching and inviting) in the Book of
Mormon include:
• When people didn’t understand Alma’s “Faith Like
a Seed” sermon (Alma 32), he had to clarify by
expounding Zenos, Zenock, and Moses (Alma 33)
• Ammon expounded from Adam on up (Alma 18)
• Lamanites expound often to their people to stir them up
to battle against Nephites (see example in Ammaron’s
epistle, Alma 54:17)
• Nephi’s garden tower sermon begins with his
expounding Abraham, Moses, Zeons, Zenock, Ezias,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lehi, and Nephi (Hel. 7-8).
• Moroni where he expounds Jaredite history in Ether,
exhorts readers in chapters 4-5, teaches in the book of
Moroni, invites in Moroni 10:3-5.
“Come ye out from the wicked,” etc.
vv. 57-62
• The entire Bookof Mormon is an example of EETi
Even Captain Moroni’s famed title of liberty was
inspired by an ancestor, about whom he expounded while
seeking recruits:
TEACHING
METHOD
EXAMPLE
EX POUN D
(evoke the past)
“We are a remnant of the seed of
Jacob; yea, we are a remnant of the
seed of Joseph … let us preserve our
liberty as a remnant of Joseph …”
Alma 46: 23-26
EX HOR T
(admonish or advise;
testify)
“…the seed of Joseph, which shall
perish as this garment … even it shall
be ourselves if we do not stand fast
in the faith of Christ.”
v. 27
T EACH
I NV I T E
Mormon sums up: “Now behold, this
was the language of Jacob …”
v. 26
“Come forth in the strength of the
Lord, and enter into a covenant …”
v. 20
(Mormon expounds Nephite history, exhorts/testifies and
teaches throughout, invites readers to action)
Why Expounding Works
In evoking the past for our students, I believe that we
are effectively summoning help from the other side,
inviting history’s heroes to join our ranks. President
Faust noted that, “it may very well be that there are more
helpful sources at work than we know. I believe there is a
strong familial pull as the influence of beloved ancestors
continues with us from the other side of the veil.”6 Elder
Scott similarly quoted Joseph F. Smith in a recent General
Conference address: “I believe we move and have our being
in the presence of heavenly messengers and of heavenly
beings. We are not separate from them. … We are closely
related to our kindred, to our ancestors … who have
preceded us into the spirit world.”7
Expounding benefits reluctant learners, too. When
Nephi and his brethren were forced to flee Laban’s servants,
the commandment of an angel of the Lord to “go up to
Jerusalem again” failed to convince Laman and Lemuel to
TONKS | 33
return (1 Nephi 3:24-31). But return they did—only after
Nephi expounded:
“Therefore, let us go up. Let us be strong like unto
Moses; for he truly spake unto the waters of the Red
Sea and they divided … let us go up; the Lord is able
to deliver us, even as our fathers, and to destroy Laban,
even as the Egyptians” (1 Nephi 4:1-3).
Later, an angel did employ this more effective teaching
method with another reluctant learner, when expounding
for the rebellious Alma the Younger to remember “the
captivity of thy fathers in the land of Helam” and “how
great things [God] has done for them; for they were in
bondage and he delivered them” (Mosiah 27:16).
In recent years, the
Church has made
expounding central to
our curriculum.
In recent years, the Church has made expounding
central to our curriculum by introducing the Teachings
of the Presidents of the Church series of manuals for
Relief Society and Priesthood use. The Relief Society
additionally published a history of their organization
after presidency leaders “prayed, fasted, pondered, and
counseled with prophets, seers, and revelators to learn
what God would have us do to help His daughters be
strong” because of “findings that many [sisters] are
not doing essential things such as praying and reading
scriptures.”8 Clearly, expounding is making a comeback
in church classrooms. Are we following suit in our homes
and university classrooms?
Additional Research Required
The nature of expounding in ancient times requires
additional research. Expounding must be more than
tossing out some contextual background information at
the beginning of a lecture or “summing things up” for
students. Consider the reaction of listeners to the historical
accounts read aloud in Mosiah 25, as they:
PERSPECTIVE | 34
• “Were struck with wonder and amazement” (v.7)
References
• “Filled with exceedingly great joy” (v. 8)
1
BYU’s John Hilton III, PhD, models effective invitation in LDS classrooms in his
articles “Helping Students Act” (Religious Educator, 2012) and “See That Ye Do
Them” (Religious Educator, 2009).
• “Shed many tears of sorrow” (v. 9)
• “Did raise their voices and give thanks” (v. 10)
2
Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/
expound accessed 12 Oct 2012, emphasis added.
• “Were filled with pain and anguish” (v. 11)
Are our students responding to our expounding in this
way? If not, how might we improve our expounding skills?
The Book of Mormon gives us many clues as to why the
prophets’ historical accounts were so much more riveting
and engaging than the sleep-inducing pioneer stories often
droned from the modern-day pulpit. I invite readers to
discover for themselves the secrets of powerful teachers in
the Book of Mormon, whose expounding made learners
“desirous beyond measure” to hear more (Mosiah 28:12).
3
In my research of all the various EBSCOHOST (and other) scholarly databases, I
found the term used most often as synonymous with explain, teach, or expand upon.
4
Donald Senior, CP, “The Biblical Heritage and the Meaning of Vocation,”
Origins, Vol. 31, No. 46 (also attributed to H.W. Wolff in other literature).
Senior’s explanation further clarifies the meaning behind Alma’s declaration “I
would cite your minds forward to the time when the Lord God gave these
commandments unto his children” (Alma 13:1, emphasis added). Special thanks
to Jeff Christensen of Mexico City, Mexico for pointing this out to me; I hadn’t
found it in my own research.
5
Defined as “encourage, stimulate” (on etymonline.com), to which Elder Bednar
added “testify” in his October 2009 Conference Address, “More Diligent and
Concerned at Home.”
6
Expounding must be
more than tossing
out some contextual
background information
at the beginning of a
lecture or “summing
things up” for students.
“Dear are the Sheep that Have Wandered,” April 2003 General Conference Address.
Richard G. Scott, April 2012 General Conference address online at https://www.
lds.org/general-conference/2012/04/how-to-obtain-revelation-and-inspiration-foryour-personal-life?lang=eng
7
8
Julie B. Beck, “Daughters in My Kingdom,” General Relief Society Meeting
address, September 2010).
Power to Resist
In a time of indescribable wickedness among the
Jaredite people, Shez remained righteous because he
“did remember the destruction of his fathers” and “he
remembered what the Lord had done in bringing Jared and
his brother across the deep” (Ether 10:3). Shez’s knowledge
of the past was such a powerful force for good in that
time of wickedness that the adversary must surely want
expounding erased from our teaching repertoires today,
lest it thwart his efforts.
Let us, then, invite those powerful spiritual figures from
the past to assist us in the classroom by invoking their
names and sharing their stories. How will their presence
engage the immortal spirits of our learners and meliorate
learning outcomes? We have only to expound to find out.
TONKS | 35
Deepening
Learning
and Teaching
Through the
Principles of the
Learning Model
K E L LY B U R G E N E R
Many of us who were here in 2004 will remember this
statement made by President Bednar on several occasions—
I paraphrase: I sense we understand much about what
it means to learn by study but I believe we know much
less about learning by faith (DC 88:118). Soon after,
President Bednar left campus with that intriguing thought
(challenge?) still hanging in the air.
This idea of learning by faith took prominence soon
after President Clark arrived. He gathered the entire faculty
together and challenged us to define a new model for learning
and teaching that could assist students and faculty towards
higher level engagement and deeper learning. This model
would prove to be (among other things) an important attempt
to unite the power of study and faith.
For most, this was a heady time as faculty shared, discussed,
and refined principles and techniques that had blessed their
teaching and their students’ learning. Perhaps like most of you
reading this, I was not directly involved with the majority of
this work, but I watched the process unfold and was blessed
by both the dialogue and the results.
This learning by study and by faith effort and the
Learning Model itself were coming about during an
extremely busy time at BYU-Idaho: the creation of
bachelor degrees and upper-division courses, four-year
accreditation, the implementation of the new calendar, and
the introduction of more active learning strategies. And
on top of this frenzy of activity came our beginning efforts
to build a new online structure, which effort put many
faculty into overload. It goes without saying that time for
experimentation and reflection during this period was
a luxury that few could enjoy. But now with important
changes changes and opportunities underway or on the
near horizon, I hope that will change.
You may personally not have experienced any change in
your pace yet, but a number of factors are coming together
that are designed to slow our collective pace some: the
reduction of (and in many cases the elimination of) overload,
a new proposed annual teaching load, TA support, and the
streamlining and simplification efforts for program curricula.
At the five year mark of the official introduction of
the Learning Model, it is fitting that we catch our breath
and take time now to “ponder and prove” what we have
experienced during this transformational period at
BYU-Idaho. President Clark has invited each of us in the
September 2012 Fall General Faculty meeting to begin a
series of conversations and studies on the principles of the
Learning Model. He said,
The Learning and Teaching Council has planned a yearlong series of activities focusing on the principles of
the Learning Model so that we can more deeply not
only understand them, but learn how to practice them
and apply them to our work. As we continue to follow
these principles [of the Learning Model] and deepen our
application of them, we will witness a marked increase
of deep learning. I know that is true.
PERSPECTIVE | 36
During Fall semester, we inaugurated this effort with an
introductory Brown Bag where members of the Learning &
Teaching Council discussed the efforts that were being made
institutionally. They also shared practical ideas that could be
done within departments and small groups. We have heard
of great work planned or underway by chairs and deans
toward this effort. The Learning & Teaching Council has
made many plans to host a number of activities throughout
the upcoming semesters. And please don’t wait for someone
to instigate something for you. Feel free to organize any
activity that fits your needs best—pose a question to a
teaching team you serve on, start an email conversation or
blog, organize a lunch with colleagues, implement a study in
one of your classes that tests concepts found in the principles
of the Learning Model, or read a book on learning and the
gospel—the opportunities are myriad!
I believe that acting, participating in some way is the key
that will open doors of insight for you. Let me share a bad
example of that with you.
I had the experience of being given an important
invitation that I did not chose to accept. As you will
remember, President Hinckley invited all members of the
Church in (date) to read the Book of Mormon before the
end of the year. At the time the invitation was given, I was
in the Book of Helaman and, in my typical get-it-checkedoff way, I was not inclined to turn around and start all
Please don’t wait for
someone to instigate
something for you. Feel
free to organize any
activity that fits your
needs best.
over again. Besides, I rationalized, it was all very fresh
in my mind and I felt confident that I could join in any
conversation that might come up with others.
But it soon became apparent that I was not having
the same experience that my wife and others were
having. Because of their investment (not to mention
their obedience to follow the prophet), an outpouring of
the Spirit was deepening their love for and testimony of
this great book of scripture. I could tell that great things
were occurring around me that I was not privileged to
experience. I ended my reading of the Book of Mormon
that year at the same time everyone else did, but in the end,
the great power of the experience had passed me by.
With that poor example, I would invite you to be more
wise than I was in that instance. Join whole heartedly
in this potentially significant opportunity. Let the Spirit
teach you through the experiences and insights of your
colleagues and through your own contributions and
reflections. As both scholars and disciples, we have the
opportunity to learn, apply, observe, reflect, and then share
what we experience in ways that truly deepen and expand
the vitally important doctrine of learning by faith.
President Clark has promised that as we participate in
this effort, we will “deepen our application” and “we will
witness a marked increase of deep learning.”
As we collectively gather our experiences this year
and onward, we will be privileged to add to a treasury of
knowledge that I believe heaven has in reserve to bless
lives—our students’ lives, our lives, and the whole Church—
at a very significant time. Thank you in advance for all you
have contributed and all you will yet contribute to this
great work!
BURGENER | 37
tTHE LIGHTER SIDE
and has been there since the beginning of the semester.
Please get the paper to me as soon as you can.
Hello, this is Brother Rane… No, next week will be too
late. The paper was due yesterday and I absolutely have to
have the paper by this afternoon at 5:00 p.m.
My office: A Wednesday
Hello, this is Tom… Yes, I Chair the Faculty Conference
committee… Have you checked the faculty web page?...
Look that over and it will answer your question …. You get
to it by going to MyBYUI and clicking on the Faculty tab.
Hello, this is Tom… Did you get the e-mail I sent to
all faculty yesterday?... Yes, it was in the email. ...Yes, I
suppose I could resend it... I understand. I get a lot of junk
email that I delete, too.
Like Wheedle,
Like Tweedle,
Like Dum
My office: The next Wednesday
TO M R A N E
Sometimes I wonder if students ever hear what I tell them
in class or if they read and pay attention at all. I can tell
them the same thing over and over, put the information
on the syllabus, and send out emails, and I will still get
the same questions. I’m glad that after we graduate we get
better. Here is an example of how my days go:
My office: A Tuesday
Hello, this is Brother Rane… My Child 310 class?… Actually
that information is in the syllabus… Yes, read the syllabus
and it will answer your question… It is posted in I-learn.
Hello, this is Brother Rane… Did you read the e-mail I
sent to class yesterday? The answer to your question is there.
My office: The next Tuesday
Hi, this is Brother Rane… I notice you signed up for the
Majors’ lunch meeting. Are you coming for sure? I asked
for an RSVP one way or the other. I need a firm head count
so we can order lunches.
Hi, this is Brother Rane… I hope you’ll be able to make
it too. We’ll go ahead and order a lunch for you.
My office: The Tuesday after that
Hello, this is Brother Rane… Actually the assignment
was due last Friday… Yes, the date was posted on I-learn
Hi, this is Tom… I noticed you signed up for the faculty
conference. Are you coming for sure? I asked for an RSVP
one way or the other... Yes, I need a firm head count so we
don’t order too many lunches.
Hi, this is Tom… We’re trying to get the lunch order
ready. Do you remember, did we have 40 or 50 lunches
that weren’t claimed last time?... Oh, you already sent that
to me?... I think I might have accidentally deleted that
message. Could you send it again?
My office: The Wednesday after that
Hello, this is Tom… Actually the faculty presentation
proposals were due last Friday… Yes, that was the date
listed in the original request... Yes, I could still take it.
Please get the proposal to me as soon as you can.
Hello, this is Tom… I absolutely have to have the
proposal by this afternoon at 5:00 p.m.
My office: A Thursday
Hello Daris, This is Tom. Hey I’m working on that story for
the Perspective… The deadline was last Monday? I don’t
think I knew that... It was in your email? Ohhhh! I’ll for
sure have the paper to you by tomorrow, or the next day at
the latest.
Come to think of it, maybe after we graduate we don’t
get better at all.
PERSPECTIVE | 38
Call For Papers
The theme for the Spring 2013 volume of Perspective is
“University Funded Professional Development/
Enrichment/Renewal”.
As faculty at BYU-Idaho we are encouraged to take
advantage of three hours or more of release time per year
for professional development to help us become better
teachers. At a recent faculty meeting we were told that
more funding and more resources are going to be made
available to help us in these endeavors. Some faculty
have had wonderful experiences making use of available
resources. There may also be some whose experience was
not everything they had hoped. As a campus we could
learn from the experiences of each other with regard to
these efforts. This could include, but is not limited to
release time for Foundation development, Thomas E Ricks
grants, fellowships, or anything else in this area.
We would like to issue a call to faculty to submit short
articles devoted to this theme and would like to have each
college represented. Articles can range in length to about
1600 words (approximately 6, double-spaced pages of text).
If willing to submit an article or if you have questions,
please contact one of the editors for Perspective or send an
email message to: [email protected]. Out editor team
is very happy to help. For submission format, please see the
Style Guide at: www.byui.edu/learning-teaching/facultycommittees/Publication/perspective-magazine-style-guideoverview.
Also, we would like to remind readers to submit any
stories or anecdotes, both humorous and inspirational,
for The Lighter Side section of the journal.
For the Fall 2013 issue, entitled “Lessons Learned from
Teaching at Ricks/BYU-Idaho” we are hoping to gain
wisdom and insight from retiring and retired faculty
and administrators.
“Drawing on a past tradition of pre-semester
activities for faculty, we offered excursions in the
afternoon to give all an opportunity to socialize
together and have rich experiential learning activities
that faculty could draw on for their own classes. We
enjoyed seeing these excursions return this year.”
tom
rane
,
conference
chair