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The Decoding the Disciplines Paradigm: Seven Steps to Increased Student Learning

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Abstract

Teaching and learning in a college setting has never been more challenging. How can instructors reach out to their students and fully engage them in the conversation? Applicable to multiple disciplines, the Decoding the Disciplines Paradigm offers a radically new model for helping students respond to the challenges of college and provides a framework for understanding why students find academic life so arduous. Teachers can help their pupils overcome obstacles by identifying bottlenecks to learning and systematically exploring the steps needed to overcome these obstacles. Often, experts find it difficult to define the mental operations necessary to master their discipline because they have become so automatic that they are invisible. However, once these mental operations have been made explicit, the teacher can model them for students, create opportunities for practice and feedback, manage additional emotional obstacles, assess results, and share what has been learned with others.
... The practice of decoding an academic discipline, developed by Middendorf and Pace (2004;Pace, 2017), relies primarily on decoding interviews, where a non-subject expert helps an instructor reveal tacit knowledge and implicit assumptions around a "bottleneck." Similar to threshold concepts (Meyer & Land, 2005), bottlenecks are specific areas of difficulty that students encounter in a course or discipline. ...
... To address this, Middendorf and Pace (2004;Pace, 2017) proposed a seven-step decoding process for educators to make explicit their implicit mental operations. The instructor, as a discipline expert: ...
... In the third stage of the analysis, Collette began the process of connecting the Brad's narrative reflections from stage two to the decoding process outlined by Middendorf and Pace (2004;Pace, 2017). Similar to stage two (but with changed roles), the process was completed as a conversation over the period of two months, with five iterations. ...
Article
This paper describes our experiences with implementing an innovative approach to decoding our discipline, which involves writing dialogue-driven stories that explore authentic, context-rich problems within introductory business statistics. Our paper begins by introducing the decoding model created by Middendorf and Pace (2004). We then explain why we initially chose to write pedagogical stories as a meaningful way to deliver our course material, later discovering that the process also served as an alternative means of decoding our discipline. The discussion focuses on our case study, which investigates how the process of writing stories lead to significant benefits for ourselves as instructors. In particular, we connect our learning experiences to Middendorf and Pace’s (2004) work on decoding the discipline, which utilizes a seven-step process to help faculty members interrogate their teaching processes for bottleneck concepts. We present our reflections on how the process of writing stories acted as an effective alternate means of decoding the discipline.
... A bottleneck refers to specific places where the learning of many students gets interrupted [31]. This interruption happens when students are not sure how to approach a given problem and as a result, apply improper strategies [38]. ...
... The seven-step DtDs paradigm can be used to initially expose the nature of such hidden operations (linked to a specific bottleneck) and to create awareness among instructors regarding steps/operations they typically omit when teaching their students. In subsequent steps of this paradigm, instructors are guided to devise ways of helping students master these operations and hence overcome specific learning bottlenecks [31,38]. ...
... Bottlenecks are typically identified in Step 1 of the DtDs paradigm, while Step 2 focuses on exploring explicit mental steps that disciplinary experts follow to accomplish a task identified as a bottleneck [31,38]. In executing Step 2, several artefacts and/or techniques (e.g., decoding interviews, rubrics, metaphors/analogies, mind maps, reflective writing, and non-verbal modelling) can be used to uncover the explicit steps followed by experts [31,32]. ...
Chapter
The Decoding the Disciplines paradigm posits that each discipline has unique mental operations – often invisible to instructors due to their own expert blind spots. If the nature of these operations is not made explicit to students, they are likely to develop learning bottlenecks that could prevent them from mastering key disciplinary practices – such as the ability to reliably work through the chain of reasoning necessary for efficient source code comprehension (SCC). This study seeks to assist instructors to help novice programmers reliably think and work their way through a long chain of reasoning to efficiently comprehend a piece of source code. We followed a narrative approach where data was collected through decoding interviews with five expert programming instructors. Several SCC strategies were identified, but only the seven key ones were used to devise a step-by-step framework for efficient SCC. Our findings aim to create awareness among instructors regarding the explicit mental operations required for efficient SCC.KeywordsSource code comprehensionexpert programming instructorsdecoding the disciplinesdecoding interviewcomputer science educationbottleneckCS1
... A bottleneck refers to specific places where the learning of many students gets interrupted [31]. This interruption happens when students are not sure how to approach a given problem and as a result apply improper strategies [38]. ...
... The seven-step DtDs paradigm can be used to firstly expose the nature of such hidden operations (linked to a specific bottleneck) and to create awareness among instructors regarding steps/operations they typically omit when teaching their students. In subsequent steps of this paradigm, instructors are guided to devise ways of helping students master these operations and hence overcome specific learning bottlenecks [31,38]. ...
... Bottlenecks are typically identified in Step 1 of the DtDs paradigm, while Step 2 focuses on exploring explicit mental steps that disciplinary experts follow to accomplish task(s) identified as a bottleneck [31,38]. In executing Step 2, several artefacts and/or techniques (e.g., decoding interviews, rubrics, metaphors/analogies, mind maps, reflective writing, and non-verbal modelling) can be used to uncover the explicit steps followed by experts [31,32]. ...
Conference Paper
The Decoding the Disciplines paradigm posits that each discipline has its own unique set of mental operations-often invisible to instructors due to their own expert blind spots. If the nature of these operations is not made explicit to students, they are likely to develop learning bottlenecks that could prevent them from mastering key disciplinary practices-such as the ability to reliably work through the chain of reasoning necessary for efficient source code comprehension (SCC). This study seeks to assist instructors to help novice programmers reliably think and work their way through a long chain of reasoning to efficiently comprehend a piece of source code. We followed a narrative approach where data was collected through decoding interviews with five expert programming instructors. Several SCC strategies were identified, but only the seven key ones were used to devise a step-by-step framework for efficient SCC. Our findings aim to create awareness among instructors regarding the explicit mental operations required for efficient SCC.
... It often occurs that investment of time and resources in teaching courses and modules yield poor results (Pace 2017). This is, to a great extent, due to the fact that learners experience hidden difficulties in many levels of their academic journeys. ...
... Its founder, David Pace, suggests that this seven-step cycle enables those implicit practices to be decoded so that learning bottlenecks or roadblocks could be alleviated. Pace (2017) believes that, through discussion with expert educators, disciplinary mental operations may be deconstructed to understand their tacit knowledge. Whereas Derrida's (1976) notion of deconstructing knowledge includes a more complex interpretation of language that accentuates thought processes in a poststructuralist manner, Pace (2017) associates the term or process of deconstruction with the conventional structuralist principle that spoken language can be accepted as the closest representation of thought (Higgs 2002). ...
... Pace (2017) believes that, through discussion with expert educators, disciplinary mental operations may be deconstructed to understand their tacit knowledge. Whereas Derrida's (1976) notion of deconstructing knowledge includes a more complex interpretation of language that accentuates thought processes in a poststructuralist manner, Pace (2017) associates the term or process of deconstruction with the conventional structuralist principle that spoken language can be accepted as the closest representation of thought (Higgs 2002). Derrida (1976), however, claims that all structures of meaning or interpretations are inherently unstable (Balkin 1995) and that all texts and utterances have 209 multiple meanings that conflict with each other. ...
Article
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This article reports on a systematic review of the literature to evaluate the Decoding the Disciplines paradigm (henceforth "DtD") in the development of expert disciplinary habits of mind in student learning. A search was conducted utilising various databases (EBSCOhost, DOAJ, JSTOR, SAGE Journals Online, Scopus, Wiley Online and uKwazi) (Library Search Engine) for the period 2004 to 2020. More than 500 papers, retrieved from nine scholarly databases, were screened, based on title and abstract, resulting in 33 shortlisted papers for analysis. The researcher and one independent reviewer assessed the methodological quality of the shortlisted articles. Five countries are represented in this study. The results of this review highlighted the impact that the DtD has on the development of expert ways of thinking in learners. The case studies attest to the fact that several insights, namely 1) Concretising abstract phenomena; 2) Overcoming emotional bottlenecks; 3) Making expert habits of mind explicit to the learner; 4) Trans-disciplinary approaches and the T-Shaped learner and 5) Synergies between threshold concepts and information literacy habits of mind, are capabilities that the DtD process could cultivate in student learning to overcome complex bottlenecks.
... Decoding the Disciplines has for years helped expert thinkers "decode" their discipline's epistemology and identify "bottlenecks" that impede student progress toward expert disciplinary thought (Middendorf and Shopkow 2018;Pace 2017Pace , 2021Pace and Middendorf 2004). Although developed in the context of higher education, this research and teaching paradigm holds value for K-16 instruction. ...
... Although developed in the context of higher education, this research and teaching paradigm holds value for K-16 instruction. Pace (2017) has suggested Decoding might develop "a new language of teaching and learning that would lessen the negative impact of the current dysfunctional chasm between secondary and higher education" (134). However, K-12 education has only slowly adopted Decoding; numerous Decoding studies exist for fields in higher education, but few in K-12 teaching or K-12 teacher education. ...
... In Week 4, I introduced TCs to the Decoding paradigm. Candidates received a handout (appendix A) adapted from Middendorf and Shopkow (2018) and Pace (2017). This handout covered interview procedures, suggested questions, and provided key points. ...
Article
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This paper makes a conceptual argument for using the Decoding the Disciplines research paradigm as a pedagogical innovation in the field of teacher education. It incorporates empirical findings from a research project in which teacher candidates conduct Decoding interviews to deepen understanding of historical thinking and learn pedagogical practices. Results indicate teacher candidates benefitted from conducting Decoding the Disciplines research and saw connections between that research and their future practice.
... Fundamentally, Pace (2017) founded the DtD model which encourages peer-faculty dialogue on disciplinary practices and offers academic lecturers with opportunities to engage with student learning. The model suggests that teachers, operating as experts in their disciplines, hold tacit knowledge and implicit ways of thinking that are not necessarily accessible to novices in the discipline. ...
... Step 2: Defining the mental operations needed to get past the bottleneck: According to Pace (2017), it is crucial to unlock the disciplinary unconsciousness of the expert practitioner. This is achieved by interviewing the expert to explore the steps that they would follow to accomplish the identified bottleneck. ...
... I spent 1 hour 50 minutes probing the lecturer's mental frame and approach to this specific problem. Pace (2017) emphasises that it is imperative to steer the interviewee back to the objective of the Mohamed Decoding information literacy ways of thinking in student learning: Influencing pedagogic methods 195 interview by constantly reminding him of his approach to the challenge and not how he teaches the formula to his learners: "How do you simplify a complex problem for yourself? What do you understand by the word "formula"? ...
Article
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University students often experience hidden challenges in various courses across all levels of their academic careers. These difficulties often serve to deter student learning and academic progress which may end in high student failure rates. In some instances, this may be attributed to tacit assumptions that academic teachers make about their learners when preparing lesson plans, course content and learning assessments. It is often mistakenly assumed that students already possess the necessary information literacy ways of thinking to overcome bottlenecks within their respective disciplines. To this end, the Teaching and Learning Librarian at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) Library, collaborated with an academic teacher to decode specific disciplinary difficulties and to subsequently enhance the required information literacy knowledge practices in student learning. Using a qualitative research approach, this study reports on how an Economics and Management Science (EMS) lecturer and the librarian used the Decoding the Disciplines Paradigm (DtD) to identify and deconstruct troublesome concepts in the Business and Finance module. The DtD model provides a clearly delineated, seven-step process for identifying and analysing disciplinary challenges and provides guidelines for designing instructional, motivational and assessment strategies that support deep learning. Through the DtD Paradigm, the study identified specific information literacy proficiencies that should be developed or enhanced in student learning. Moreover, the article describes how, as one of the paradigm's steps, pedagogic methods were transformed to develop information literacy ways of thinking.
... Modified from Middendorf and Pace (2004) and Pace (2017) Decoding employs the metaphor of a bottleneck to describe critical junctures that impede students' progress with disciplinary learning; these cognitive or emotive bottlenecks prevent students from further developing their disciplinary thinking (Shopkow et al. 2013). A traffic bottleneck slows or halts the progress of vehicular flow; in a decoding bottleneck, students encounter an obstacle to their learning. ...
... Decoding interviews function as metacognitive interviews; through probing questions, they help interviewees become aware of and analyze their own learning and thinking processes. Through decoding interviews, expert interviewees can better surface and make explicit their tacit thoughts (Pace 2017). A decoding interview forces experts to wrestle with putting tacit knowledge into words, and through putting tacit knowledge into explicit words, they can better explain their mental operations to students. ...
Article
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This case study presents the development of a system that integrated two strands of SoTL research—Decoding the Disciplines and Students as Partners—into a secondary history teacher preparation program. This system simultaneously refined teaching in undergraduate history courses and provided authentic learning experiences for secondary education teacher candidates. The system involved partnering a teacher preparation course with an undergraduate history course. Teacher candidates interviewed students from that history course to decode bottlenecks in their historical thinking. Teacher candidates then suggested instructional changes faculty could implement to respond to surfaced bottlenecks. This study explores how the connection between Decoding the Disciplines and Students as Partners can address the gap between university instruction and secondary teaching. It further describes how teacher candidates applied the decoding paradigm to analyze learning in undergraduate history courses and proposed curricular improvements. The study reflects on the benefits of this system for stakeholders, including teacher candidates, student researchers, history faculty, and undergraduate students taking history courses. Teacher candidates benefited from the practical experiences of decoding research, including eliciting learning cognition, assessing learner needs, and responding instructionally. Student research partners gained experience in data management and mixed-methods research while providing a valuable perspective as co-analysts. History faculty gained opportunities to have the cognition of their students systematically examined and receive recommendations for improving instruction. Finally, undergraduate students collectively benefited from improved instruction in history courses. This adaptable system could extend beyond history departments into other disciplines, especially in contexts that train secondary teachers.
... Step 4 -Verbalize the thinking process Instructors will typically perform a think-aloud of what is going on in their minds as they model explanations made and skills that need to be fostered with students (Middendorf & Pace, 2004;Pace, 2017). At this stage, instructors can also pose questions, recite affirmations and identify more valuable resources (Ellis, Denton & Bond, 2014). ...
... Modelling is when instructors explicitly explain/demonstrate a skill that students should acquire in the same way that they will practise it. Verbalising is when instructors perform a think-aloud of what is going on in their minds as they model explanations made and skills that need to be fostered with students (Greene, 2022;Pace, 2017). These techniques were found to encourage student engagement and stimulated student learning from their implementation. ...
Article
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Computer programming continues to be challenging despite numerous strategies and skills that researchers and instructors have shared over four decades. Using explicit instruction (EI) to help students learn and better understand computer programming presents a promising avenue for tackling this challenge. This paper describes a study that implemented the principles of EI in a computer programming module. The aim of this study was to identify elements to consider in EI, and opportunities and challenges presented by EI interventions in teaching computer programming to postgraduate Computer Science students. Collected data was analysed through thematic analysis, and the results reveal nine major opportunities and five main challenges related to EI. The study followed an integrated methodological approach where narrative data was collected through observations and asking questions. This study informs how improvements can be made in the future teaching of computer programming to create a better sense of quality and robustness.
... Decoding kombiniert heute Elemente von Expertise-und Fehlkonzeptforschung, Hochschuldidaktik, Coaching, kollegialer Beratung und SoTL zu einem Prozess der Lehrentwicklung, bei dem die Schwierigkeiten Studierender beim Erlernen fachspezifischer Denk-und Handlungsmuster als disziplininhärent gewürdigt werden (Riegler, 2019). Es strukturiert den Untersuchungsprozess in mehreren Schritten (Pace, 2017; "Faculty learning communities create connections for isolated teachers, establish networks for those pursuing pedagogical issues, meet early-career faculty expectations for community, foster multidisciplinary curricula, and begin to bring community to higher education" (Cox, 2004, S. 5). ...
... Decoding-Interviews werden üblicherweise in einem abgeschlossenen Kreis dreier Personen geführt, bestehend aus der interviewten Person, deren Expertise decodiert werden soll, sowie zwei Interviewer*innen (Pace, 2017 Hutchings (2000) zu formulieren und auf dieser Grundlage Lehr-Lern-Settings methodisch zu untersuchen und zu optimieren (Foltz, 2021). ...
Book
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Der vorliegende Forschungsband Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Eine forschungsgeleitete Fundierung und Weiterentwicklung hochschul(fach)didaktischen Handelns setzt hier an und hat zum Ziel, auf Basis einer Bestandsaufnahme ausgewählter aktueller SoTL-Projekte an deutschsprachigen Hochschulen eine forschungsgeleitete Auseinandersetzung mit der Lehre zu führen. Dies inkludiert Konzepte, damit verbundene Gelingensfaktoren und Herausforderungen für die erfolgreiche Umsetzung sowie daraus entstandene Good Practices. In den Prozess der forschungsgeleiteten Auseinandersetzung involviert sind nicht nur Lehrende, Forschende und Hochschuldidaktiker*innen, sondern auch Studierende, entweder als Akteur*innen oder als ‚critical friends‘ und Mitforschende. Durch einen wissenschaftsgeleiteten Dialog im geplanten Band entlang der unten genannten Thesen können Impulse für die zukünftige Weiterentwicklung und Intensivierung von SoTL an Hochschulen abgeleitet werden. Im Rahmen dieses Forschungsbandes wird eine große Bandbreite von Fachdisziplinen, fachspezifischen Wissensbeständen, Methoden und didaktischen Fragestellungen erfasst und dem interessierten Fachpublikum vorgestellt. Eine Verbreitung und Verortung von SoTL in den Hochschulen und Universitäten in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz findet sowohl in der hochschuldidaktischen Grundausbildung − etwa in den Zertifikatsprogrammen in mehreren Bundesländern und Kantonen – als auch in der standortbezogenen Studiengangentwicklung und Hochschulentwicklung im Kernelement Lehre statt.
... Decoding studies focus on identifying and addressing bottlenecks in student learning processes by emphasising the significance of tacit knowledge (cf. Middendorf & Pace 2004;Pace 2017Pace , 2021. The approach is based on the following assumption: lecturers, as experts in their disciplines, have internalised important steps in working on a task in such a way that they no longer make them explicit. ...
Article
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The responsibility for overcoming learning barriers in universities is too often placed on students. The framework of Decoding the Disciplines calls for a change of perspective by focusing on implicit knowledge as a learning obstacle. This Scholarship-of-Teaching-and-Learning study is dedicated to the decoding of political thought by conducting the first five steps of the decoding wheel. The steps are illustrated with a concrete example in a political theory seminar on the subject of power as a central concept in the work of Thomas Hobbes. As a tool, Conceptboard was used.
... Strategies and participants' evidence Pace (2017) refers to decoding the disciplines where unfamiliar students may perceive they are not communicating with academics who, immersed in the discipline, fail to identify bottlenecks to students' learning and neglect to systematically outline the steps needed to overcome these unfamiliar literacies. ...
Article
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The Australian Universities Accord’s (Department of Education, 2024) focus on expanding underrepresented groups’ access to higher education underscores an on-campus-online paradigm shift, or post-pandemic digital transformation, to address students’ flexibility and accessibility needs. The shift identifies that online student engagement, and students’ learning outcomes, need to be effective and fit for purpose if students are to succeed. Conducted as one phase of a longitudinal project (2017-present), this research investigated the approaches and strategies that could be incorporated to facilitate students’ online engagement. Findings suggest that these strategies could be encapsulated under five key conditions: fashioning a strong teacher presence; crafting an inclusive and safe online learning environment; creating well-structured and interesting content; forging explicit expectation management; and ensuring students have time to engage. This article argues that if educators are purposeful in applying these conditions, employing targeted, specific strategies in their curriculum design and teaching, students’ online engagement, and their learning outcomes, will be enhanced.
... This finding supports the study of Pace [12], which emphasized that breaking tasks into smaller, manageable steps enhances teachers' ability to stay organized and effective in their instructional practices. Additionally, Torres et al. [13] highlighted that teacher collaboration and supervisory support are critical in helping educators prioritize and manage their responsibilities effectively. ...
Article
This study was conducted to determine the level of contemplative pedagogy and interpersonal trust among public elementary school teachers in Manay District, Division of Davao Oriental. This employed universal sampling, using the non-experimental quantitative research design utilizing the correlational method. The respondents of the study were 131 public elementary school teachers. Data were analyzed using the mean, Pearson Product Moment Coefficient Correlation (Pearson r), and regression analysis. The interpersonal trust among public elementary school teachers in terms of respect, competence, personal regard, and integrity was oftentimes manifested. The contemplative pedagogy of public elementary school teachers in terms of academics, ability, and class was manifested oftentimes. There was a statistically significant relationship between contemplative pedagogy and interpersonal trust among public elementary school teachers. Moreover, the domains of contemplative pedagogy significantly influence interpersonal trust among public elementary school teachers in Manay District, Division of Davao Oriental. This result may serve as the basis of school heads showing good and effective school heads to enhanced by the teacher mostly on the part of lowest features which are being sure of themself in class situation and thinking of their ability is sufficient to cope with school work.
... While enrolled in HIS 399: Teaching and Learning of History, teacher candidates learned how to conduct decoding interviews (Pace, 2017;Middendorf & Shopkow, 2018). In a decoding interview, interviewers solicit from interviewees explicit metacognition regarding the steps they take to work through a cognitive task, such as contextualizing a historical document. ...
Article
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This study examines the role of secondary teacher candidates as student partners in research into undergraduate students’ historical cognition while contextualizing documents. It highlights the unique role of teacher candidates as near-peer interviewers and change agents within higher education and secondary curricula. Through using decoding the disciplines methodology to solicit student voice in near-peer interviews, teacher candidates identified areas for curricular change in teaching contextualization in university history courses. The involvement of teacher candidates extended beyond the university classroom and informed their future work in secondary education. Decoding experiences in university courses provided teacher candidates with insights into supporting secondary pupils’ abilities to contextualize historical sources. This research demonstrates the potential of teacher candidates as near-peer interviewers and curricular change agents in secondary and higher education. Collaborative partnerships between teacher candidates and faculty can lead to meaningful curricular changes and effective teaching practices in higher education and secondary education contexts.
... Grundlegend ist hierbei die Klärung, mit welchen kognitiven Strategien Sie als Expert:in, entsprechende Bottleneck-Problemstellungen durchdringen.1. Der Decoding ProzessDecoding the Disciplines wurde maßgeblich von David Pace und Joan Middendorf an der Indiana University als siebenschrittiger Prozess vorangetrieben und veröffentlicht4,5 . Der Decoding Prozess wird im folgenden Abschnitt dargestellt. ...
... Die Grundannahmen des Projektes entspringen kulturwissenschaftlichen Überlegungen und sind somit im eigenen Fach zu verorten. Geisteswissenschaftliche Ansätze können das Identifizieren sogenannter "Flaschenhälse" (Pace & Middendorf, 2004;Pace, 2017) unterstützen, indem sie das Hinterfragen von vermeintlich gegebenen Tatsachen in den Vordergrund stellen. ...
... In our experience, Calder's criticism also applies to student expectations, which can be shaped by a similar concern for the content of a specific topic, such as a 'religion'. Here, a pedagogical "bottleneck" (Pace, 2017) was identified, which was students' prior knowledge of one of the religions, due to previous studies and/or a living experience, and which made it all too easy for some to essentialise religious traditions instead of seeing them as historically constructed. In order to approach this bottleneck and provide a better understanding of the central role of discourses and narratives in research, the concept of "metanarratives" was introduced as a research tool. ...
Chapter
This is the proceedings volume from the 8th biannual teaching and learning conference at Lund University, LUTL-22. The conference theme, Lifelong Learning and Higher Education: New (and Old) Perspectives, gave rise to a rich spread of presentations and discussions. The volume in your hand holds 13 contributions based on keynote addresses, papers, panels, and roundtable discussions from the conference. The pedagogical objectives, practices, and challenges of supporting lifelong learning have become pronounced elements in the fabric of higher education in recent years. What does this entail for the teaching staff: for our missions, our methods, and our own professional learning? These issues, and more besides, are approached between these covers.
... What research exists on methods of history of science education has been dominated by discussions of the need to integrate the history of science into the curriculum of the natural sciences and how best to do so (see, for example, Gooday et al. 2008;Kolstø 2008;Duschl 2006). 3 Here, I will argue that the Decoding the Disciplines Paradigm developed by historian David Pace (2017) can fruitfully be applied to the teaching of the history of science, before connecting this to counterphysical literature in the following section. ...
Chapter
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Counterfactual history constitutes a prominent subgenre of speculative fiction. Nevertheless, though diverging from actual historical events, such works tend to otherwise be highly realistic. Other speculative fiction goes much further, creating not only an alternative timeline but an alternate reality governed by different physical laws. This chapter coins the term “counterphysical” to describe literature that plays with the very laws of physics or nature, but remains within a rules-based, science-inspired paradigm. Examining two counterphysical stories by Ted Chiang, “Seventy-Two Letters” (2000) and “Omphalos” (2019), it argues that such works can serve as a useful tool for teaching the history of science. Counterphysical fiction can help train students to suspend their present-day understanding of science in order to comprehend the worldview and mindset of historical scientists.
... Il metodo sperimentale di Giuseppina Pizzigoni (1913), unito al MITE, Multiple Interaction Team Education (Chistolini, 2015), con la ricerca dei significati nell'esperienza come elaborato da. J. Dewey (Dewey, 2014), fino alla metodologia del Decoding the Disciplines (Pace, 2017), declinano l'azione educativa sul campo dell'esperienza formativa nella quale i presupposti teorici sono quelli del personalismo pedagogico; vale a dire della pedagogia della persona, inizio e fine di ogni pensiero sull'educazione e di ogni azione per la persona. ...
Chapter
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La didattica postpandemica
... The arguments I set forth in this article mainly extend from Scandinavian and German scholarship (especially that of Christian Kock and Hilbert Meyer). I believe that this scholarship addresses concerns that have also been examined in the field of Decoding the Disciplines as proposed and developed by David Pace (2017Pace ( , 2021, Christiane Metzger andAndrea Brose (2020), Kristina MacPherson (2015) and others. Pace explains how he and other scholars developed the field of Decoding the Disciplines because they wanted to better understand the challenges that students were facing. ...
Article
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This article makes a case for the effectiveness of using imitation-style teaching as a way to introduce how to write theoretically informed pieces of literary or media criticism to undergraduates. By making a case for the relevance of teaching this form of criticism in the undergraduate classroom, as well as exploring exactly how imitation-style teaching can be used to teach this skill, this article argues that teachers can fruitfully study closely with students pieces of literary criticism in the undergraduate classroom. The article argues that this teaching practice is able to live up to the idea of “transparent performance expectations,” one of didactician Hilbert Meyer’s 10 central criteria for good teaching.
... Die Grundannahmen des Projektes entspringen kulturwissenschaftlichen Überlegungen und sind somit im eigenen Fach zu verorten. Geisteswissenschaftliche Ansätze können das Identifizieren sogenannter "Flaschenhälse" (Pace & Middendorf, 2004;Pace, 2017) unterstützen, indem sie das Hinterfragen von vermeintlich gegebenen Tatsachen in den Vordergrund stellen. ...
Chapter
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Am Beispiel zweier Lehrender, die ihre Lehre im Sinne von Scholarship of Teaching and Learning beforscht haben, wird nachvollzogen, wie sich Lehrende ein ihrer Forschungsfrage angemessenes Methodenrepertoire erschließen, indem sie facheigene und fachfremde Zugänge abwägen.
... In collecting and evaluating the most common mistakes, it could be noticed, that concepts being recognized as particularly simple from the point of view of the lecturer proved often to be the most difficult ones for the students. Addressing this finding may be done by using the strategy described as "Decoding the Disciplines" (Pace, 2017). Using this strategy, so-called "expert knowledge" which is immanently supposed by the lecturer to be as clearly and readily available for the students as well as for himself and therefore being silently assumed to be not worthy mentioning, can be identified and made transparent. ...
Conference Paper
There are relatively few sources that critically evaluate the main search sources or examine how to go about synthesizing what we already know about the literature on SoTL. We use an academic literacies perspective as a lens with which to explore the different ways that literature searches and reviews may be undertaken. While searching and reviewing the literature is often presented as a scientific objective process, this is a myth; the reality is much messier, nuanced, and iterative. These are complex, context-dependent processes that are socially constructed. There is no one way of searching and reviewing the SoTL literature.
... Step 7-Share What You Have Learned About Your Students' Learning This basic paradigm appeared on the SoTL stage with the publication of Decoding the Disciplines: Helping students Learn Disciplinary Ways of Thinking. , and it has served as the basis for more than 180 articles and papers in more than 35 fields. 2 More recently, two general introductions to the process have appeared, David Pace, The Decoding the Disciplines Paradigm (Pace, 2017) and Joan Middendorf and Leah Shopkow, Decoding the Disciplines: How to Help Students Learn Critical Thinking (Middendorf & Shopkow, 2018), and a third volume has captured the creative work being done with the paradigm at Mount Royal University in Canada., Using the Decoding the Disciplines Framework for Learning across Disciplines. (Miller-Young and Boman, 2017). ...
Book
Der Band präsentiert grundlegende Arbeiten sowie konkrete Anwendungsbeispiele für das Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). Im ersten Teil wird das Konzept vorgestellt und aus verschiedenen Perspektiven diskutiert. Im zweiten Teil werden Arbeiten von Hochschullehrenden präsentiert, die ihre Lehre im Rahmen eines SoTL-Projekts untersucht haben. Im dritten Teil werden Studien aus der Praxis der hochschuldidaktischen Weiterbildung vorgestellt, die Wege aufzeigen, wie SoTL als Konzept zur Lehrentwicklung an Hochschulen implementiert werden kann. Darüber hinaus sind Studien enthalten, in denen die Hochschuldidaktik selbst aus der Perspektive des SoTL untersucht wird.
... These points (referred to as bottlenecks) are likely to prevent students from mastering the basic disciplinary ways of thinking. Only once these bottlenecks have been identified can educators continue with the remaining DtDs steps of designing, implementing, and evaluating specific strategies to address the bottlenecks that their students are experiencing [26]. There are several examples of approaches that educators used to identify bottlenecks. ...
Chapter
The development of problem-solving skills continues to be a challenge in various disciplines including Computer Science. In this study, we used the principles of the Decoding the Disciplines (DtDs) paradigm to better understand the mental processes that novice programmers follow when answering source code comprehension (SCC) related questions. This understanding can be fundamental in helping novices to overcome problem-solving related challenges. While focusing on step 1 of the DtDs paradigm, the aim of this study was threefold. Firstly, we explored the problem-solving strategies utilised by novice programmers while they were attempting to answer SCC related questions. Secondly, the identified problem-solving strategies were mapped onto Polya’s four problem-solving steps. Finally, we utilised a SWOT analysis as a tool to identify problem-solving related learning bottlenecks. This study utilised an integrated methodological approach where data was collected by means of asking questions, observations, and artefact analysis. Thematic analysis of the collected data revealed a range of problem-solving strategies that these novice programmers utilised while performing various SCC tasks. These strategies were then mapped onto Polya’s problem-solving steps. Based on a SWOT analysis of these strategies, we identified six problem-solving bottlenecks that point to difficulties that are not sufficiently addressed in introductory CS courses.KeywordsDecoding the disciplinesProblem-solvingSource code comprehensionNovice programmersComputer Science educationPolya’s frameworkSWOT analysis
... Una de las principales actuaciones fue introducir lo que se denominó un "diario de aprendizaje", desarrollado con la aplicación OneNote de Microsoft, que haciendo uso de la metáfora del cuaderno digital estructurado en secciones y páginas, incluía, inicialmente, la planificación detallada para preparar cada una de las sesiones y, posteriormente, enlaces a todos los recursos didácticos que se generaban tras las mismas, señalados en color rojo en la Figura 3 (grabaciones de las clases, vídeo-tutoriales, guías para la resolución de problemas tipo o ejemplos detallados de ejercicios resueltos, entre otros). En la producción de nuevos recursos didácticos de apoyo se trata, principalmente, de identificar las posibles dificultades conceptuales que pudieran estar impidiendo el progreso en el aprendizaje del estudiante, lo que se podrían considerar los conceptos umbrales (Pace, 2017) de la disciplina. Por otro lado, se trató también de ofrecer apoyo incrementando las sesiones de tutoría, tanto individuales como grupales (presenciales o remotas), y se introdujeron sesiones adicionales de refuerzo en el laboratorio, utilizadas particularmente por los estudiantes con perfil de Humanidades. ...
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En la actualidad todos los estudiantes universitarios que asisten a las aulas usan teléfonos inteligentes que albergan diferentes aplicaciones que pueden ser de interés y/o tener usos atractivos para mejorar el método de enseñanza-aprendizaje. De esta manera, el docente debe estar familiarizado con estas aplicaciones, como es Pinterest, e intentar aprovecharlas en el beneficio tanto del docente como de la persona que cursa estudios en un centro universitario. La idea de proyecto que se plantea es, que en las aulas de grupo reducido, los estudiantes que disponen de una gran colección de preparaciones histológicas animales sean capaces de hacer fotografías con sus dispositivos móviles a través del microscopio óptico, y previa filtración, se publiquen esas fotografías en una cuenta de Pinterest cerrada y exclusiva para los alumnos de las asignaturas que somos responsables en la Universidad de Valladolid (Biología Celular, 1º del Grado de Enfermería e Histología, 1º del Grado de Fisioterapia). El principal objetivo de esta actividad es que todos los alumnos dispongan de diversas fotos realizadas por ellos y por sus compañeros que puedan ser de gran ayuda para el estudio de los contenidos de cara a la evaluación final. Por tanto, el uso de esta aplicación como otras Tecnologías de la Información y Conocimiento (TIC) serían una gran oportunidad docente mediante aprendizajes significativos y transferibles.
... For at hjaelpe de studerende gennem de vanskelige dele af studiearbejdet inden for uddannelsens faglighed kan underviserne afkode typiske udfordringer ved at identificere flaskehalse for laering og systematisk undersøge, hvordan de kan overvindes i faget (Pace, 2017). Mange af de studerende udtrykker eksempelvis specifikt besvaer med at nå den store laesemaengde på universitetet, hvor nogle har svaert ved at vurdere, hvornår de har laest nok eller grundigt nok. ...
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Denne undersøgelse belyser de udfordringer, som studerende oplever i overgangen til universitetet. Undersøgelsen bygger på en empirinær kodning af 557 Arts-studerendes besvarelser på spørgsmål om udfordringer i overgangen til universitetet og gode råd til nye universitetsstuderende. Analysen belyser, at Arts-studerendes forventninger til universitetet adskiller sig fra det, de i realiteten møder, når de starter. De oplever især udfordringer med at håndtere ansvaret for egen læring, mængden af selvstudier og de fåundervisningstimer på universitetet. Deres sociale og personlige trivsel er afgørende for deres vedholdenhed både i overgangen til og i løbet af deres uddannelse. Undersøgelsen peger på følgende tre opmærksomhedspunkter i forbindelse med overgangen til universitetet: 1) at lære at studere, 2) personlig og social trivsel, 3) forståelsen af universitetsuddannelsens rammer. Undersøgelsen afsluttes med en nuancering af disse tre opmærksomhedspunkter samt løsningsforslag, der både er relevante for uddannelsesinstitutionerne samt de studerende selv.
... This approach provided a very useful strategic framework for understanding and addressing learning difficulties and it now is being used to increase student learning in at least 15 countries. It also proved to be a powerful research method for scholars of teaching and learning who have produced three additionally significant books (Pace 2017;Miller-Young and Boman 2017a;Middendorf and Shopkow 2018), two online volumes (DiZ -Zentrum für Hochschuldidaktik 2019, 2020; Chistolini 2019), and more than 180 articles and papers based on the decoding paradigm (Decoding the Disciplines, n.d.). By 2012, Nancy Chick, Aeron Haynie, and Regan A.R. Gurung could write that "Pace and Middendorf's groundbreaking Decoding the Disciplines continues to be at the center of most discussions of how to begin thinking about what Shulman calls 'pedagogical content knowledge'" (Chick,Haynie,and Gurung 2). ...
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Decoding the Disciplines has emerged as one of the foremost approaches to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and is being used to increase learning across the globe. But it is often not recognized that the paradigm has undergone enormous changes since its appearance in 2004. The original model has been clarified and perfected, but scholars of teaching and learning have also expanded the scope of this work to include emotional, bodily, and social learning; created new roles for students in these investigations; and explored learning beyond the individual. Some of these changes have been so far reaching that they may be said to constitute a new version of the paradigm, Decoding 2.0. It is the purpose of this article to provide an overview of this paradigm’s development since it first appeared on the SoTL stage.
... The great strength of decoding is the methodology that undergirds the theory of pedagogy. We will not go over this seven-step process in depth here, as there are many publications that review it in great detail (see Middendorf & Pace, 2004;Middendorf & Shopkow, 2018;Miller-Young & Boman, 2017;Pace, 2017). We will note that the Framework proposed by Timmermans and Meyer (2017) for creating and embedding Integrated Threshold Concepts Knowledge (ITCK) incorporates the first two steps of decoding in the process for determining the contours of a threshold concept and the steps needed to guide students through the portal. ...
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Although Decoding the Disciplines and Threshold Concepts appear to be similar theories, they actually operate differently and complementarily. Threshold concepts (and bottlenecks) analyse the nature of the content difficulty, while decoding provides a pedagogical model for getting students through the difficulty, including measuring student proficiency at every stage of the process. Decoding also provides a framework for cross-disciplinary discussions and for helping students negotiate both established threshold concepts and those yet-to-be discovered as disciplines evolve.
... Based on the research of John Middendorf and David Pace (2004Pace ( , 2017, we can define a development typology of the new methodology in the academic world, starting with the studies of Shulman, Brown, Collins, Duguid, Tobias. ...
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There is shared commitment across European countries to ensure young people acquire social, civic and intercultural competences, by promoting across the disciplines democratic values and fundamental rights, social inclusion and non-discrimination, as well as active citizenship. However, this raises many challenges, not least in an uncertain world characterized by economic crisis, increased inequality, environmental concern, high migration flows, and the rise of populist ‘post-truth’ politics. All these challenges raise questions of fairness and social justice and prompt reflection on notions related to identity, the development of capabilities, citizenship, belonging, otherness, recognition of diversity, inter-generational solidarity and active democratic participation at the personal, global and policy level. In this context, papers from across the disciplines concerned with democratic values, constructs of identity, human dignity and capacities, participation and/or citizenship education in relation to issues of social justice in formal, in-formal or non-formal contexts are included in this volume.
... The Decoding Interview is one of several steps in the decoding the disciplines model (Middendorf & Pace, 2004;Pace, 2017). The decoding process seeks to support instructors to identify learning bottlenecks (or trouble areas) faced by students, and to make tacit expert knowledge explicit, in order to then develop a more learning-centred teaching practice that is cognizant of novice experiences with disciplinary knowledge (Middendorf & Pace, 2004). ...
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Drawing on the qualitative research interview, the authors propose the Educational Development Interview is an important but understudied form of significant conversation and educational development practice. By summarizing types of interviews from educational development literature, and describing our recent use of interviews for producing videos and podcasts about teaching practice, we contend that the Educational Development Interview can be used to: elicit reflexive practice about teaching and learning, increase academics’ self-confidence, influence their sense of identity as educators, and may increase capacity for and visibility of collegial conversations about teaching and learning. https://youtu.be/nloPXvuisO4
... These concepts act as a threshold which one must cross to acquire a new way of thinking and, accordingly, they can obstruct 'the journey from novice to mastery within their discipline' (Higgs, 2014: 13). They are authentic bottlenecks, as David Pace (2017;Middendorf and Pace, 2004) called them in an area of research that is very closely related to that of threshold concepts. In many disciplinary fields, dozens and even hundreds of publications have accumulated over the last decade that attempt to identify and characterize these threshold concepts, which quite often are of an epistemological nature (Higgs and Cronin, 2013). ...
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The epistemological concept of perspective meets all the conditions set by Meyer and Land (2003, 2006) to be considered a threshold concept for history learning. Following this initial hypothesis, this paper analyses the concept and the ways in which it constitutes a threshold: grasping perspective not only transforms one’s understanding of history, but it is also necessary for many aspects of historical thinking. Yet grappling with perspective is no easy feat, since understanding it requires the learner to confront other deeply rooted concepts and beliefs. Accordingly, the article explains how naive realism and the engrained epistemological tradition embodied in the expression ‘facts first’ make it difficult to understand history through perspective. Finally, a four-part model outlining different ways of understanding perspective is proposed, thus providing a framework within which we can think about what it means to cross the threshold from naive realism to a perspectivist vision of history.
... Critical discourse and communication perspectives combine then to reconceptualise students' engagement with the university's cultural practices and literacies as processes of communication, ones that are complex and often problematic. Pace (2017) refers to these processes as decoding of the disciplines where unfamiliar students may perceive they are not capable of communicating with academics who, immersed in the discipline, fail to identify bottlenecks to students' learning and neglect to systematically outline the steps needed to overcome these obstacles. By identifying and making these bottlenecks explicit and articulating their expectations, academics can then, more readily, model them for students. ...
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Student engagement is consistently identified as a key predictor of learner outcomes within the online learning environment. However, there is limited guidance about using proactive strategies to improve engagement for low and non-engaged students: for example by specifically employing course learning analytics (CLA) and nudging strategies in courses to assist these students. To explore how CLA and nudging can be used more effectively to engage students, the authors were informed by a 12-month research project, as well as by the theoretical perspectives presented by communication and critical literacies. These perspectives were applied to develop a conceptual framework which the authors designed to prioritise expectation management and engagement principles for both students and academics. The article explains the development of the framework as well as the elements and key communication strategies it embodies. The framework contributes to practice by explaining and justifying the accessible, time-efficient, student-focused approaches that can be integrated simply into each course’s online learning pedagogy to support both academics’ and students’ engagement.
... Hoffmann, 2018;Rheinberger, 2018), literaturwissenschaftliche (z.B.Giuriato & Zanetti, 2004;Zanetti, 2012) oder philosophische (z.B.Graßhoff & Wüthrich, 2012;Zembylas & Dürr, 2009) Forschung zu Schreibpraktiken und -prozessen zu nennen.Und auch im Kontext der Schreibdidaktik und -beratung und am Schnittpunkt von Forschung und Beratung sind Methoden entwickelt worden, die vielleicht noch expliziter verborgene Aspekte von Schreibprozessen und Schreibpraktiken beobachten oder zur Sprache bringen. Hier sind vor allem ethnographische Ansätze zu nennen (z.B.Babcock & Thonus, 2012;Beaufort, 2014;Brandt, 2015;Everke Buchanan & Oberzaucher, 2017;Lillis, 2008;Sheridan, 2012; siehe auch Themenheft Journal der Schreibberatung 18, 2/2019), schreibbiografische Reflexionen (z.B.Knappik, 2018) und die Decoding-the-disciplines-Methode (z.B.Middendorf & Pace, 2004;Pace, 2017; für Schreiben: ...
Chapter
Formiert sich eine Disziplin "Schreibwissenschaft"? Wir versuchen, die Form, den Gegen-stand und mögliche Ziele des Feldes zu beschreiben, aus dem sich aktuell so etwas wie eine Disziplin zu bilden scheint. Nach einer Vergewisserung, was in der Wissenschafts-soziologie überhaupt unter Disziplin verstanden wird, arbeiten wir Spezifika einer Schreibwissenschaft als einer Practical Art heraus und diskutieren dann, welche Türen sich mit der Institutionalisierung einer Disziplin möglicherweise öffnen werden und welche sich vielleicht schließen.
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Threshold concepts are conceived of as portals to learning that open previously inaccessible ways of thinking. They encompass specific ideas within a discipline that must be mastered before the learner can progress. The process of identifying threshold concepts can reveal hidden or unacknowledged fundamental disciplinary beliefs and epistemology. Integrating a threshold concepts framework into the scholarship of teaching and learning in art history (SoTL-AH) can help faculty diagnose and anticipate when students are likely to encounter troublesome knowledge within an art history course. Distinguishing these thresholds can aid instructors in designing courses that prepare for specific stages that present conceptual or affective difficulty and turn those into transformative experiences that promote reconstituted and integrated knowledge. Threshold concepts can also be applied more broadly to benefit curriculum design, assessment, and the profession. This paper explains threshold concepts and bottlenecks, describes the benefits of using threshold concepts, identifies potential limitations in utilizing them in the design of teaching strategies, and proposes some preliminary threshold concepts in art history.
Conference Paper
Electrical engineering introductury courses (EE 101) are said to be the most difficult. This paper shows a way to help students overcome typical problems in the analysis of electrical networks with series and parallel resistors, which are one of the biggest challenges for first year students. The expertise for network analysis has been elucidated with the “Decoding the Disciplines” approach. Besides, students behaviour when doing a problem solving task has been analysed with a game design approach to find elements for uplifting the lecturing. As a result the missing element of guidance and hints could be identified. Often students did not now where to start and how to proceed in circuit analysis. To guide the students during the solving process a flowchart is presented in this paper which helped students to tackle the problem solving. Index Terms —decoding the disciplines, gamification, flowchart, electrical engineering
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Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), dessen Ursprünge sich im internationalen Diskurs u.a. bis in die 1990er Jahre zurückverfolgen lassen, eröffnet nicht nur verschiedene Möglichkeiten, konkrete Situationen des Lernens und Lehrens zum Gegenstand von Forschung zu machen, sondern hat stets auch wichtige Impulse für den Diskurs über eine »Wissenschaft der Hochschuldidaktik« gegeben. In den letzten Jahren hat sich an Hochschulen und Universitäten im deutschsprachigen Raum eine große SoTL-Vielfalt herausgebildet. Das deutschsprachige SoTLNetzwerk kann, basierend auf seinen Erfahrungen, die Wirksamkeit von Lehrentwicklung mit dem Prinzip SoTL, den Wissenstransfer aus der Erforschung der (eigenen) Lehre in die jeweilige Lehrpraxis sowie die dadurch realisierte Vernetzung bestätigen. Auf dieser Grundlage wurden im Netzwerk fünf Thesen entwickelt, die SoTL als Grundhaltung und Motor durch die forschungsbasierte Auseinandersetzung mit der Hochschullehre in den Mittelpunkt für deren Weiterentwicklung und Innovation stellen. Durch einen wissenschaftsgeleiteten Dialog entlang der vorgestellten Thesen sollen Impulse für die zukünftige Weiterentwicklung und Intensivierung von SoTL an Hochschulen abgeleitet werden. Abschließend werden Aktivitäten des deutschsprachigen SoTL-Netzwerks mit Mitgliedern aus unterschiedlichen Hochschulen und Universitäten in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz vorgestellt, welche die diesbezügliche Zusammenarbeit intensivieren, eine nachhaltige Verankerung von SoTL an Hochschulen und Universitäten fördern sowie um die spezifische Haltung als »Teacher-Researcher« innerhalb der Hochschullehre ergänzen.
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Our present time is characterised by many contradictions and the aspect of uncertainty indicates a sense of our deep loss of values. Education is the traditional space, in which generations create meanings and adults prefigure the future. Despite the idea of liquid modernity, which dominates our existence, we are convinced that we inherit meaningful testimonies of schools born in the spirit of the Reform from the pedagogic culture of the last two centuries. Schools, such as Dalton, Jena Plan, Decroly and Freinet, are still alive and bringing us a new message of citizenship education coherent with the impulse of their founders. Following our field study to investigate the reality of the Schools of Method in the areas of the Flanders and Brussels we were able to draw a solid concept of community. In the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, we assume that the modern western culture reaches its task to convert the dispute into tolerance. Citizenship education wishes to overcome any separations and indicates the road to peace and harmony. It is not by chance that Reform Schools are now reaffirming the original impulse. They are transforming the contradictions of our postmodern society into the management of daily education. Headmasters and teachers are seriously opting for movement and variety of the curriculum against school stereotypes of the disciplines. Children become protagonists of the reformation, using the methodology of dialogue, development and discovery. Teachers and parents appear to be fundamental parts of the process, and learning democracy in school begins with the practice of a council of pupils: discussing, deciding, doing. The external world actively enters schools to shape life. History is composed of the biographies of senior citizens, mainly grandfathers, and languages are matter of pride for children from families with migrant backgrounds.
Conference Paper
The OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) provides a list of key competencies which current learners/student should acquire to be future-proof. The three key competencies are „(1) Use tools (language, technology…) interactively“, „(2) Act autonomously“ and „(3) Interact in heterogeneous groups“. Traditional teaching focuses on providing information. I redesigned the structure of my class “Electrical Engineering” (EE) for first year Bachelor students in order to provide not only fact knowledge transfer, but also to gain and improve said key competencies. In my talk I will present methods and materials, I use, to give my students that expertise. The class format has been changed to an inverted classroom concept. In preparation of the course, the class students work self-paced on teaching videos and easy test questions to gain basic knowledge about a topic (Key 2). In class, students are stimulated to get into discussion with their colleagues via Peer Instruction (PI) questions. To support the discussion between students (Key 3), small whiteboards are handed to student-groups at the beginning of each class. Besides, those whiteboards are used for solving assignments during class time. A supervisor can walk through the room and assesses the progress of the teams. Solutions or mistakes that are worth discussing are presented in the plenum by streaming the whiteboard via a document camera. The teacher establishes a positive culture of failure, as there is no blaming and shaming, but collaborative learning. The whiteboards are a game changer in the attendance time. To encourage the use of different tools (Key 1), simulations of ideal electrical components are integrated in the teaching part. For showing the difference to real live, electrical components as resistor, multimeters etc. were handed to the students during class for guided experiments. This trains scientific working along the lines of thesis - experiment - result - conclusion, but also forces students to think about the differences between ideal models and reality. The modified course concept has been widely complimented by students, stating they are very happy to be in that class and feel well prepared for the exam.
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In der Wissenschaft sind Erkenntnisziele, aber auch ein spezieller Weltaufschluss angelegt. Diesen zu vermitteln, ist Aufgabe der Wissenschaftsdidaktik. Was aber bedeutet es, Wissenschaft institutionell zu einem Gegenstand des Lehrens und Lernens zu machen? Die Beitragenden des Bandes liefern eine disziplinenübergreifende Einführung in die Wissenschaftsdidaktik, die sich mit grundlegenden konzeptionellen Fragen sowie Einordnungs- und Deutungsversuchen aus verschiedenen Perspektiven befasst. Hochschullehrende sowie praktisch und forschend tätige Personen in der Bildungswissenschaft finden hier leichten Zugang zur Wissenschaftsdidaktik und ihren innovativen Erkenntnispotenzialen.
Thesis
Die vorliegende Dissertation beleuchtet die Auswirkungen der Schreibberatung auf ratsuchende Personen in Bezug auf Motivation und Emotion beim wissenschaftlichen Schreiben an der Universität Bayreuth. Ausgehend von Erfahrungen beim wissenschaftlichen Schreiben aus Studierendensicht soll illustriert werden, wie die Schreibberatung auf die Situation der Studierenden eingeht und somit Faktoren beeinflusst, die dazu beitragen können, Studierenden ein motiviertes wissenschaftliches Arbeiten und Schreiben, das vorrangig mit positiven Emotionen verknüpft ist, zu ermöglichen. Grundlage dieser Untersuchung sind 17 digital durchgeführte qualitative Interviews, die nach erfolgter digitaler Schreibberatung durch Mitarbeitende des Schreibzentrums der Universität Bayreuth mit ratsuchenden Personen geführt wurden. Die Ergebnisse dieser Studie sollen dazu beitragen, die Notwendigkeit von Schreibzentren und Schreibberatung im universitären Kontext zu untermauern: Es soll gezeigt werden, dass die Schreibberatung mögliche Schwachstellen im System Universität ausgleichen kann. Auch dieses Potenzial der Schreibberatung gilt es weiterhin zu nutzen und zu fördern.
Chapter
In der Wissenschaft sind Erkenntnisziele, aber auch ein spezieller Weltaufschluss angelegt. Diesen zu vermitteln, ist Aufgabe der Wissenschaftsdidaktik. Was aber bedeutet es, Wissenschaft institutionell zu einem Gegenstand des Lehrens und Lernens zu machen? Die Beitragenden des Bandes liefern eine disziplinenübergreifende Einführung in die Wissenschaftsdidaktik, die sich mit grundlegenden konzeptionellen Fragen sowie Einordnungs- und Deutungsversuchen aus verschiedenen Perspektiven befasst. Hochschullehrende sowie praktisch und forschend tätige Personen in der Bildungswissenschaft finden hier leichten Zugang zur Wissenschaftsdidaktik und ihren innovativen Erkenntnispotenzialen.
Chapter
One of the most effective ways to increase student learning is to identify places where students have difficulty and then show them precisely what they need to do to get past this bottleneck. This, however, requires making these steps explicit, both to ourselves and to our students. The Decoding the Disciplines process provides an effective means for accomplishing this and for passing these skills on to students. In this article this process will be presented and an example of its application in a history course will be described.KeywordsDecoding the DisciplinesTroublesome knowledgeStudent mistakesHistory teaching
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En este ensayo trataré temas relevantes para entender cómo podemos usar la enseñanza del período medieval en Escandinavia en la formación de profesores de Historia. Empezaré enfocándome en cuál es la mejor manera de aprender la historia – intentando identificar una convergencia entre teoría y práctica docente – y luego explicaré la necesidad de, en un inicio, concentrar nuestros esfuerzos en las habilidades necesarias para la producción y el entendimiento de investigaciones históricas, para después obtener los conocimientos concretos. Encontrar representaciones populares en clases educativas, en conjunto con las fuentes históricas, puede contribuir a que los estudiantes entiendan cuáles preguntas podemos plantear en estos textos, qué incluyen las narrativas y qué se mantiene oculto. Debemos estar conscientes de la diversidad de medios que afectan la conciencia histórica de nuestros estudiantes, para poder poner énfasis en la facultad crítica con la que tenemos que enfrentar cada representación, medieval o moderna. Alumnos, estudiantes y profesores continuarán interactuando con el pasado a través de distintos medios de comunicación. Lo crucial es saber cómo enfrentarse con usos del pasado de manera reflexiva, pensativa e interrogadora. Así se puede ir formando una consciencia no solo del pasado, sino de los usos del pasado. Abstract [Eng]: In this essay I deal with topics relevant to understanding how we can teach the medieval period in Scandinavia as part of the training of history teachers. I will begin by focusing on the best way to learn history - trying to identify a convergence between theory and teaching practice - and then I will explain the need to, initially, focus our efforts on the skills necessary for the production and understanding of historical research, before obtaining specific factual knowledge. Encountering popular representations in educational classes, in conjunction with historical sources, can help students understand what questions we can ask of these texts, what the narratives include, and what remains hidden. We must be aware of the diversity of media that affect the historical consciousness of our students, in order to put emphasis on the critical faculty with which we have to face each representation, medieval or modern. Pupils, students and teachers will continue to interact with the past through different means of communication. The crucial thing is knowing how to deal with uses of the past in a reflective, thoughtful and questioning way. Thus, an awareness can be formed not only of the past, but of differing uses of the past.
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Die dghd19 "ReGeneration Hochschullehre. Kontinuität von Bildung, Qualitätsentwicklung und Hochschuldidaktischer Praxis" war ein riesengroßes Abenteuer. Mit drei im Kontext der Tagung erscheinenden Publikationen, darunter auch dieses Themenheft, sind die Verantwortlichen am Ende des letzten Kapitels der dghd19 angekommen. Sie freuen sich, dass mit der vorliegenden Tagungsausgabe von "die hochschullehre" ein Themenband vorliegt, der Einblicke in die drei Themenfelder der Tagung gibt. Die konstruktiven Beiträge bringen dabei die Verschiedenheit der Blickwinkel auf die ReGeneration Hochschullehre zum Ausdruck, die bereits die Tagung bereichert haben, und es gelingt den Autorinnen und Autoren, die Freude des wissenschaftlichen Austauschs und die vielen inspirierenden Diskurse auf der Tagung einzufangen und in ihren Artikeln aufblitzen zu lassen. Tagungsband der dghd-Jahrestagung 2019 in Leipzig. DOI: 10.3278/6004833w
Chapter
This chapter draws upon academic historians’ representations of their ambitions for students to explore an everyday discourse of pedagogic purpose that turns around a specialised identity formation and, more broadly, human possibility and growth. It employs the work of ‘capability’ educators and particularly the research of the educational sociologist Basil Bernstein on ‘pedagogic rights’, to examine survey and interview data from historians on issues of purpose and the possibilities that a history education provides for human flourishing. Using this Bernstein/capabilities approach, the chapter provides a lens through which history educators might review their teaching and express their transformative ambitions for students and present their curricula in ways that honour the discipline itself and amplify its educative possibilities and value.
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This case study presents our experiences, insights, and the pedagogical techniques used to guide undergraduate students toward discipline-specific thinking. It demonstrates the role of student-centered practices in moving students from what we categorize as novice to proficient, a common goal in rite-of-passage courses across the disciplines. Our study follows two semesters of students in undergraduate college-level Historiography and Historical Methods courses to identify common stumbling blocks encountered when learning contextualization (our discipline-specific thinking skill). We analyze students’ habits of mind, cognitive behaviors, and assumptions when learning to think differently. We present a qualitative portrait demonstrating the range of student cognitive behaviors as they attempt to move towards proficiency. As experts immersed in our fields of study and its practices, we can sometimes forget that what comes second-nature to us is far from natural to our students—regardless of their enthusiasm. We may overestimate the background knowledge that our students have, and underestimate the brain bandwidth required when trying—for the first time—to think differently.
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Those who teach subjects that explore controversial issues often find that students have difficulty thinking about and responding productively to them. College instructors have leeway in structuring learning in ways that maximize the possibility of productive critical thinking. By shaping classroom experiences before the controversial material is encountered, the likelihood that students will maintain higher mental functioning when examining that material increases. This article discusses ten strategies for planning a course that facilitates quality discussion and thoughtful debate.
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To think like a historian, students must select and assess evidence that supports interpretations of the meaning of the past. Three historians focus on aspects of this task and pursue different approaches to teach their students to use evidence.
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Faculty members engaged in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning generate visible analyses of the learning taking place in their institutions, provide excellent models of practice for local colleagues, generate high-quality evidence for internal and external assessment, and offer accessible examples of quality education to prospective students. SoTL contributions of this kind should be nurtured by institutions as a basic expectation of high-quality instruction. I discuss these faculty contributions as assets derived from a cosmopolitan social role within their organizations, and I develop a recommendation for institutional strategy from that perspective.
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This chapter presents a vision in which the kinds of thinking and learning that are commonly required of students become a regular part of the teaching and scholarship within every discipline.
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To teach students particular ways of thinking in the humanities, three faculty in literature and creative writing discover how to conceptualize these approaches for students and model them or have students model them in the classroom, and they assess the results on student learning.
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Two faculty in business and public and environmental affairs find that students need to move between personal-based experience, data, and a higher level of analytical reasoning. Their teaching of marketing and statistics is shown to benefit from the structured analysis and detailed assessments of the Decoding the Disciplines model.
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For three biology professors, visualizing molecular processes is central to thinking in their discipline. This chapter reports their attempts at getting students to make this same cognitive move and the results of their assessments.
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Two astronomy professors, using the Decoding the Disciplines process, help their students use abstract theories to analyze light and to visualize the enormous scale of astronomical concepts.
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This chapter outlines the understanding gained when working with faculty to learn about assessment, to develop a plan, and to support them as they carry out and interpret their assessments.