Wiley Announces Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning

In Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning (March 2016; $27.95; Cloth; ISBN: 978-1-118-94449-3; Jossey-Bass, a Wiley brand), James Lang presents a strategy for improving student learning with a series of modest but powerful changes that make a big difference—many of which can be put into practice in a single class period. These strategies are designed to bridge the chasm between primary research and the classroom environment in a way that can be implemented by any faculty in any discipline, and even integrated into pre-existing teaching techniques. Learn, for example:

• How does one become good at retrieving knowledge from memory?
• How does making predictions now help us learn in the future?
• How do instructors instill fixed or growth mindsets in their students?

Small Teaching fills the gap in higher education literature between the primary research in cognitive theory and the classroom environment. While other books provide research without concrete examples or simply introduce radical theories that ultimately are not useful in the classroom, Small Teaching offers simple interventions that can be integrated into pre-existing techniques as well as clear descriptions of how to do so. The term "small teaching" refers to an approach that seeks to spark positive change in the classroom through small but powerful modifications to course design and teaching practices. A small teaching approach or activity may take one of three forms: brief classroom or online learning activities, one-time interventions in a course, or small modifications in course design or communication with students.

Each chapter of Small Teaching introduces a basic concept in cognitive theory, explains when and how it should be employed, and provides firm examples of how the intervention has been or could be used in a variety of disciplines. Small Teaching techniques include brief classroom or online learning activities, one-time interventions, and small modifications in course design or communication with students.