What can college instructors learn from secondary teachers?

Having taught both high school and middle school students, teaching secondary education has allowed me to uncover compelling insights about teaching and learning.

In college I wanted to be a medical doctor, so I completed a B.S. in Biology and a B.A. in Psychology.  I went on to finish an M.P.A. in Health Policy; although by then, I realized that clinical practice wasn’t something I was truly passionate about.  My graduate program helped me discover that what I really wanted to pursue is applied medical research and teach post-secondary education.

   

I thought it would be a good idea to gain teaching experience before starting a Ph.D. program, so I taught high school sports medicine and later middle school life science.  Teaching both high school and middle school secondary education has enabled me to recognize that the age of the student and his or her level of self-directed learning demonstrate a slight relationship.  For example, high school students tend to take more responsibility in their efforts to complete assignments than their younger middle school counterparts.  Middle school teachers usually spend considerably more time prompting middle school students to stay-on-task and to turn work in.  You often have to remind them to complete missing assignments sometimes to no avail!  High school students however require less structure. Occasionally, high school students will even remind the teacher that he or she needs to make up an assignment.  I believe as students mature, they become more self-driven and begin to understand the link between academic achievement and future success. 

Although there appears to be a link between age and motivation, there seems to be significant variation in the rate of cognitive growth and development among adolescents within the same grade level.  Aside from any mental or physical disabilities that may impede maturation, the differential rate of adolescent maturity among similar age groups is a natural process influenced by biological and environmental processes.  Many studies have found that the adolescent brain continues to mature throughout early adulthood.  For example, the prefrontal cortex is a region of the brain that is responsible for rational thought and impulse control.  Developmental changes in the prefrontal cortex show a significant change in grey matter density in this region between 12-16 years and early adulthood (23-30 years) (Struss and Knight, 2002).  Auto insurance companies likewise understand these developmental changes as younger clients are usually considered to be higher liabilities.  An understanding of maturation is also important for post-secondary instructors because most college students continue to grow and mature even after they have completed their education.  Further complicating post-secondary instruction is such that students in the same age group may show considerable differences in maturity.  Thus, to maximize learning among developmentally diverse students, I believe college instructors can learn a thing or two from secondary teachers. 

There is a movement among medical schools to shift from traditional lecture-based courses to more team-based learning (Schwartzstein and Roberts, 2017).  For example, the University of Vermont is proposing to do away with traditional lectures because according to cognitive-load theory, the human brain can only process a limited amount of information during a typical 45-minute lecture.  The rationale behind UV’s controversial change is that learning should be self-driven and class time should be reserved for group activities such as case studies and problem solving, strategies effectively used in secondary education.  Of course, UV’s proposed change may be too drastic a shift; however, I believe problem-solving based learning can be integrated successfully into traditional lecture-based courses as seen at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center.

As I prepare to eventually teach post-secondary science and engineering, these blogs will serve as a theoretical model for instruction using techniques I learned during my tenure as a high school and middle school teacher.  To serve as a guide, I will be analyzing the book, “Understanding the Human Machine−A Primer for Bioengineering” by Max E. Valentinuzzi.  As I summarize, critique and supplement this text, I will reflect upon my own experiences and use peer reviewed research to adapt effective secondary teaching strategies to post-secondary education.  

References:

Stuss, D. T., & Knight, R. T. (2013). Principles of frontal lobe function. New York: Oxford 

University Press.

Chwartzstein, R. M., & Roberts, D. H. (2017). Saying Goodbye to Lectures in Medical School — Paradigm Shift or Passing Fad? New England Journal of Medicine, 377(7), 605-607.doi:10.1056/nejmp1706474

Valentinuzzi, M. E. (2004). Understanding the human machine: a primer for bioengineering. Singapore: World Scientific.