Stop Giving Them Answers: Make Them Think!
David Adams, PhD, and Enoch Hale, PhD from Faculty Focus
Higher education has recently changed in faster and more dynamic ways than anticipated. COVID-19 is an immediate factor, but the access to information is more prevalent now than 15 years ago. Many students’ learning habits do not include long nights in the library reading through textbooks or searching through library stacks. Information is at students’ fingertips, and the desire for immediate access to information is only growing. There is a real sense in which students want answers now, and as educators, we are tasked with cultivating the intellect, which is a laborious process. “Learning is deeper and more durable when it’s effortful” (Brown, Roediger, & McDaniel, 2014). In other words, deep learning is hard work. We know this, and we are faced with convincing students that deep learning is meaningful and rewarding.
Consequently, we are charged with developing and refining our students into professional learners who are efficient at thinking critically, completing tasks, and ready to enter the “real world.” As Nagro et al. (2018) stated, accomplishing this means structuring our classrooms to emphasize student choice and allowing authentic learning through individual and group activities. If we, as faculty, want our students to critically think, we have to present opportunities that allow students to identify the structure of an argument, determine whether the claim comes from sound empirical research, and identify past literature that demonstrates an agreement or an opposing argument (Cottrell, 2017).
Vygotsky (1962) stated in order for an individual to go through the process of deep learning, they must first recognize the information presented, have multiple opportunities to apply the information, and be intellectually engaged in the learning task. Sound familiar? To illustrate this point, let’s reflect on two classroom structures often seen in higher education.
