What the Best College Teachers Do

In the 1980s, a group of physics faculty conducted an experiment in their introductory course at Arizona State University that yielded troubling results: Despite the course’s instruction, most students, even those who performed well on assignments, failed to “give up their mistaken ideas about motion” (23). The experiment thus showed little evidence of deep learning because students’ understanding had not shifted: “The students performed all kinds of mental gymnastics to avoid confronting and revising the fundamental underlying principles that guided their understanding of the physical universe” (23).

The most successful teachers facilitate deep learning, but still combat problems like the physics students’ cognitive dissonance. Bain’s subjects tended to reflect on the “nature of thinking within their fields,” including their own thinking—or metacognition (25). This reflection, in turn, gives insight into how pupils learn and their learning challenges. Successful teachers are thus effective at scaffolding instruction, positing challenging questions, and clarifying difficult concepts and topics. Bain’s subjects generally held ideas about learning that mirrored findings in the latest research on the science of learning.

Bain identifies principles that inform the best educators’ learning and teaching methods. Firstly, they acknowledge extant mental models shape the way students think from the moment they enter a classroom, even when they have little knowledge of a topic. Instructors must work to challenge and deconstruct these mental models. These models gradually shift as teachers present “expectation failures,” scenarios “in which existing mental models will lead to faulty expectations, causing […] students to realize the problems they face in believing whatever they believe” (28). However, effective instructors create a learning environment in which students care about these failures and strive for better understanding. Students are given multiple opportunities to challenge their mental models, receive consistent feedback, and improve their learning and produce superior work. Effective instructors encourage students to exercise reasoning rather than memorization. With this approach, students retain knowledge by being intrinsically motivated. Extrinsic rewards, namely grades, decrease retention because students focus on strategic learning rather than deep learning: “[…] students who believe that they can become more intelligent by learning (a ‘mastery orientation’) often work essentially to increase their own competence” (35). Bain’s subjects encouraged a mastery mindset by providing “students as much control over their own education as possible and displayed both a strong interest in their learning and faith in their abilities” (35). They do not employ demanding language, instead allowing students’ curiosity to drive their course and question its purpose; they also understand students begin education at varying developmental stages of learning. The best educators encourage students to engage in independent thinking that extends beyond the classroom. They are empathetic to students as they navigate stages of learning and their own mental models. Overall, they create environments that support curiosity, challenge students’ mental models, and provide consistent activities that generate feedback from which students can learn and improve.