Thriving in Academe
Tales from Real Life
A Critical Insight from Learning Theory and Research

For several years, I taught an introductory psychology course. Obligated to use a textbook, I struggled with how to hold students accountable for the readings assigned from it. I experimented with weekly quizzes and then concept maps, never quite satisfied with this approach.

Of far greater importance to me were the classroom activities designed to help students begin to think like psychologists. Students formulated research questions, designed hypothetical research studies, and even designed a behavioral modification intervention for themselves.

For the final exam, students wrote an essay explaining how their views of psychology had changed over the semester. A few students described the kinds of changes I had hoped for, but the majority described a forced march through a textbook, not the experience I thought I had provided.

As I thought about why this had occurred, I recalled the the importance of reflection and metacognition in learning. Perhaps my students didn't know what had happened to them because I hadn't asked them to think deliberately about it.

The next time I taught the course, I added a reflective strand including a learning journal in which students recorded their reflections on classroom activities and assignments.

Although some students did not describe the learning experience I had planned in their final papers, significantly more did than the last time I taught the course.

— Virginia Lee
North Carolina State University

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