Dr. Bain visits the Department of Math

The Department of Math had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Ken Bain, historian, educator, and President, Best Teachers Institute, for a discussion about teaching and learning. Dr. Bain is the award-winning author of "What the Best College Teachers Do" and "What the Best College Students Do". Over 25 faculty members from the Department of Math were joined by over 25 faculty members from USMAPS, BS&L, and DEP for two informative, interactive, and engaging give-and-take discussions about how to effectively help students pursue deep learning. One of the key themes discussed was the importance of designing educational experiences that involve students in answering "good" questions. Dr. Bain defined a "good" question as one that stimulates the students' curiosity, places them in a situation that will challenge their pre-existing mental models, and is consequential or realistically meaningful. A second theme focused on the challenges of finding a balance between the creation of a learning environment in which students are able to try, fail, get feedback, and try again vice designing assessment processes that feed merit based ranking metrics, which often promote strategic rather than deep learning.