Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning
Book Review • James Lang, Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning, 2nd ed. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2021). Kindle Edition. 260 pp. $19.
Read time: 7 min
Summary
James Lang is professor of English and director of the D’Amour Center for Teaching Excellence at Assumption University. Having surveyed the literature of teaching and learning in higher education, he writes Small Teaching in order to provide readers with “small-ball recommendations that [are] both easy to implement and well-supported by the research” (4).
In chapter one, he highlights the significance of prediction activities in teaching and learning. His contention is that teachers can integrate predicting activities before introducing new material. This approach taps into students’ prior knowledge to encourage predictions. Even incorrect predictions enhance retention and deepen learning. Strategies like pre-quizzes and knowledge dumps are suggested to activate prior knowledge and prepare students for effective learning.
In chapter two, Lang focuses on retrieval practices as a potent learning strategy. Unlike passive studying methods, active retrieval through quizzes or writing exercises strengthens memory pathways, leading to significant improvements in knowledge retention. Lang suggests that incorporating brief retrieval activities at the beginning and end of class sessions, alongside frequent, low-stakes quizzes, reinforces learning outcomes.
In chapter three, he explores the concept of interleaving and spacing out learning sessions and mixing up practice. Learning research shows that spaced practice aids in consolidating memory and promotes durable learning over time. Techniques such as making all exams and quizzes cumulative leverages spacing and interleaving to ensure repeated exposure to previously covered material, which enhances long-term retention and critical application of knowledge.
Lang writes chapter four emphasizing the importance of creating connections among concepts, facts, and skills to facilitate expert-level understanding. Providing students with incomplete, guided notes and having students create concept maps (i.e. “mind maps”) encourage active engagement with course material, helping learners relate new ideas to their existing knowledge and experiences. Further, constructing rich networks of connections, promotes deeper understanding, original thinking, and transferable knowledge and skills.
Chapter five centers on practicing, emphasizing the pivotal role of deliberate practice in skill acquisition. Lang stresses the necessity of purposeful engagement with cognitive tasks to improve proficiency and cautions against mindless repetition that can lead to overlearning (i.e. reinforcing poor practice). This chapter argues for a structured approach to practice that starts with assessing cognitive tasks, then creating opportunities for students to practice these skills. Instructors then provide constructive feedback with suggestions for how to improve students’ efforts. Practical tips for educators include breaking down assessments into skill components, prioritizing skills, scheduling practice sessions, and ensuring ample rehearsal opportunities before major assessments.
Treating the topic of “Explaining,” chapter six shows how learning research supports the effectiveness of self-explanation and especially peer-explaining as learning strategies. He discusses, quite remarkably, how verbalizing or writing about one’s learning process can deepen one’s own understanding and problem-solving abilities. Practical strategies for educators include facilitating self-explanatory or peer instruction group work during class.
Chapter seven explores cultivating a growth mindset. Here Lang emphasizes that intelligence is malleable and can be developed through focused effort. Instructors recognizing students’ strengths, praising their hard work, and encouraging students to seek help when needed promote a sense of belonging, overcoming self-doubt, and active engagement in learning.
Chapter eight speaks to the matter of motivation. Distinguishing between intrinsic and extrinsic drivers, Lang stresses “self-transcendent purpose” as a potent motivator, rooted in a desire to positively impact others or the world. He cites research supporting the significance of emotions in learning as well, with emotional connections—particularly a strong sense of purpose—enhancing motivation in learning. Professors are called upon to utilize storytelling and empathetic language in teaching materials (especially in syllabi) to create a supportive learning environment.
In chapter nine, his focus shifts to learning strategies for teachers, underscoring continuous professional development as effective educators. Lang recommends staying updated on teaching and learning research, attending conferences, and utilizing faculty development centers to grow one’s own teaching effectiveness. Lang ends his work by providing numerous resources for further growth, including books, webpages, and podcasts. By staying informed about new methodologies and resources, instructors can spur ongoing personal improvement as facilitators of student learning.
Quotations
“A small teaching approach or activity may take one of three forms: Brief (5–10-minute) classroom or online learning activities . . ., one-time interventions in a course . . ., [or] small modifications in course design or communication with your students” (7–8).
“Giving students a pretest on topics to be covered in a lecture improves their ability to answer related questions about those topics on a later final exam” (22).
“The retrieval effect means that if you want to retrieve knowledge from your memory, you have to practice retrieving knowledge from your memory. The more times that you practice remembering something, the more capable you become of remembering that thing in the future” (42).
“If you combine the research on the importance of retrieval practice and the power of interleaving, the implication is an obvious one: all major exams in your course should be cumulative” (73).
“Experts, they explain, have a much richer ‘density of connections among the facts, and skills they know. . ..’ When they encounter a new piece of information or a new idea in their field of expertise, they immediately slot it into a fully developed network that enables them to see connections between it and dozens of other things they know” (93).
“Researchers found that students who had received the guided notes—with a visual map of the content framework—outperformed the no-notes students on the course exams. . .. Giving your students guided or structured (but incomplete) notes provides them with the framework of the lecture or reading content, but still forces them to do some of the work of recording ideas and making their own connections . . .. Provide students with a focus question to which the concept map comes as a response” (102–104).
“The only way to develop mental facility [at a cognitive task] is to repeat the target process again and again” (119).
“The self-explanation prompted students experienced a 32% gain in their knowledge of the circulatory system from the pretest to the posttest, whereas the unprompted students experienced a 22% gain” (140).
“In the classroom, we can capture the attention of students and direct it toward learning by stirring up emotions like curiosity, wonder, joy, and more. But one emotion in particular may play special role in motivating learning in education: a sense of purpose, and especially self-transcendent purpose” (198).
“Motivation is crucial…, and emotional connections to others and to a community provide the strongest motivation” (200). ❖
