Teaching Through Problems
Teaching Through Problems
Lecturing interactively and facilitating discussions may be the primary modalities for instruction, but they are certainly not the only ones. Teaching through problems is increasingly practiced on college campuses and in secondary classrooms. These classrooms engage students in relevant, discipline-specific puzzles, frequently shifting instructors to the periphery as students collaborate to realistically apply textbook concepts and reach new understandings.
Teaching through problems videos are organized into five submodules according to the specific learning exercise employed: Case-Based Collaborative Learning (CBCL), Case Teaching, Simulations, Project-Based Learning, and Team-Based Learning. Supplemented by classroom footage and student testimonials, featured faculty share strategies and philosophies for designing, facilitating, and helping students make meaning from immersive, hands-on learning activities.
Featured Faculty
Julie Battilana
Joseph C. Wilson Professor of Business Administration (Harvard Business School), Alan L. Gleitsman Professor of Social Innovation (Harvard Kennedy School)
Course details:
"Power and Influence"; Harvard Business School, Harvard Kennedy School; 85 students
Relevant quote:
"My approach when I stay with a student, is never to try and trick the student...I stay with the student because I'm genuinely interested in what the students have to say. And I want to make sure that we all as a group fully understand their reasoning."
Barbara Cockrill
Harold Amos Academy Associate Professor of Medicine
Course details:
"Homeostasis I"; Harvard Medical School; 40 students
Relevant quote:
"Our goal with cases is to have students come in and do the hard part of learning in the classroom, which is the application, the thinking, the wrestling with the material."
Brian Mandell
Mohamed Kamal Senior Lecturer in Negotiation and Public Policy
Course details:
"Advanced Workshop in Multiparty Negotiation and Conflict Resolution"; Harvard Kennedy School; 60 students
Relevant quote:
"Even before playing, I'm trying to get them to develop an anticipatory mindset. Like an expert or grand master chess player, they can start to think in twofers -- one, two moves at a time -- and at the same time, anticipate questions from other parties at the table."
Eric Mazur
Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics
Course details:
"Physics as a Foundation for Science and Engineering"; School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; 60 students
Relevant quote:
"I thought it'd be nice if I could somehow return to my students the ownership of learning, so that they're not learning because I tell them it's good for them but because they actually want to."
Richard Schwartzstein
Ellen and Melvin Gordon Professor of Medicine and Medical Education
Course details:
"Homeostasis I"; Harvard Medical School; 40 students
Relevant quote:
"The challenge of this kind of teaching and the fun part for me is that it's largely unscripted. We know the goals and objectives for the session...but we don't know exactly what the groups are going to come up with for hypotheses. So managing that conversation is a little challenging, but it's fun because no two sessions are exactly the same."
