This pathbreaking book for educators shows that focusing on relationships, resilience, and reflection can better prepare graduates for the future.
Learning something new―particularly something that might change your mind―is much more difficult than most teachers think. Because people think with their emotions and are influenced by their communities and social groups, humans tend to ignore new information unless it fits their existing worldview. Thus facts alone, even if discussed in detail, typically fail to open minds and create change. In a world in need of graduates who can adapt to new information and situations, we need to renew our educational commitment to producing flexible and independent thinkers.
In Teaching Change, José Antonio Bowen argues that education needs to be redesigned to take into account how human thinking, behaviors, bias, and change really work. Drawing on new research, Bowen explores how we can create better conditions for learning that focus less on teachers and content and more on students and process. He also examines student psychology, history, assumptions, anxiety, and bias and advocates for education to focus on a new 3Rs―relationships, resilience, and reflection. Finally, he suggests explicit learning designs to foster the ability to think for yourself.
The case for a liberal (by which Bowen means liberating) education has never been stronger, but, he says, it needs to be redesigned to achieve the goal of creating lifelong learners and citizens capable of divergent and independent thinking. With an expansive and powerful argument, Teaching Change combines elegant and gripping explanations of recent and wide-ranging research from biology, economics, education, and neuroscience with hundreds of practical suggestions for individual teachers.
Review
A pleasure to read.
―Betsy O. Barefoot, Gardner Institute, coauthor of The Undergraduate Experience: Focusing Institutions on What Matters Most
Endorsing a view of education that moves away from content-focused curriculum and practice to a school paradigm that emphasizes non-cognitive skills, Bowen suggests that relationships, resilience, and reflection are required for developing the disposition and skills to adapt to and function within the modern economy. During a time when there is a premium on so-called evidence-based practice, which involves what is dubbed the learning sciences, this book can have a significant impact.
―Stephen Vassallo, American University, author of Critical Educational Psychology
Everyone changes as they go through life, but the changes are often not the ones that are needed and are frequently the result of external forces rather than internal monitoring and value-based decisions. This book provides readers with a valuable guide for making self-directed changes in their own lives and for helping students develop this same important life skill.
―L. Dee Fink, international consultant in higher education
Teaching Change is an essential book for college instructors. Bowen tackles critical questions about the purpose of education, arguing that the goal is to bring about change. This book is grounded in theory and research while simultaneously brimming with practical suggestions for designing and developing instruction that facilitates student learning.
―Claire Howell Major, University of Alabama, coauthor of Collaborative Learning Techniques: A Handbook for College Faculty
In an age of increasing polarization and partisanship, educating for democracy is more critical than ever. José Bowen provides a roadmap for fostering the habits of heart and mind necessary for students to think independently and discern the truth, while preparing them for success in work, citizenship, and life.
―Lynn Pasquerella, President, Association of American Colleges and Universities
A timely, pragmatic book that will assist educators and students alike as we deal with change and ask critical questions like, "How will I live my life?" and "How will my decisions change my family, community, and society?" Teaching Change will yield a long-lasting impact in the classroom and our students' lives.
―Juan Gonzalez, University of Texas-Austin
This timely, remarkable, and welcome book offers advice to stem the decline in how we teach in our schools and colleges. Bowen articulates fundamental principles about what learning and teaching should be in the twenty-first century. This book's clear insights and advice will benefit faculty and administrators as well as students and parents. It speaks directly and without condescension, in plain language, about how we can achieve excellence and equity in education.
―Leon Botstein, President, Bard College
Book Description
This pathbreaking book for educators shows that focusing on relationships, resilience, and reflection can better prepare graduates for the future.
About the Author
José Antonio Bowen is the author of the widely acclaimed Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning. After teaching at Stanford University, he went on to become the Caestecker Professor at Georgetown University, a dean at Miami University and Southern Methodist University, and, later, the president of Goucher College.
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