Thriving in Academe

Learning about Learning

Knowing how students learn is a hallmark of the teaching profession.
By Virginia Lee, North Carolina State University

Understanding learning is necessary for improving it.

One of the hallmarks of a profession is a specialized knowledge base—a body of knowledge essential to the practice of the profession.

Lawyers, accountants, doctors, the clergy: Each profession possesses its own shared language, customs, and beliefs that inform its practice and facilitate communication and the development of the field.

Teaching is no exception. Twenty years ago in an effort to enhance the status of teaching, Lee Shulman, now president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, codified teacher knowledge: the set of basic skills, content knowledge, and pedagogical skills that constitutes teaching expertise.

As defined by Shulman, teacher knowledge includes knowledge of learners and their characteristics—and a working understanding of how people learn, distilled from the growing body of research in psychology, education, and, increasingly, neuroscience on learning.

Just as a mechanic checks under the hood of a car to see the engine, understanding the psychological and physiological bases for learning is like opening up and peering inside our students' minds, exposing their interior workings and tinkering with them to improve learning and performance.

Meet Virginia Lee
Virginia Lee is associate director of the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning at North Carolina State University and a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Adult and Community College Education. Virginia can be contacted at Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning, North Carolina State University, Box 7111, Raleigh, NC 27695 or via e-mail at Virginia_lee@ncsu.edu.

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