Stephen E. DiCarlo
Department of Physiology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan
Adv Physiol Educ 33: 257–264, 2009; doi:10.1152/advan.00075.2009.
Teachers often overrate the importance of their content and underrate their influence. However,
students forget much of the content that they memorize. Thus, attempts to teach students all
students forget much of the content that they memorize. Thus, attempts to teach students all
that they will need to know is futile. Rather, it is important that students
develop an interest and love for lifelong learning. Inspiring and motivating students
is critical because unless students are inspired and motivated our efforts are
pointless. Once students are inspired and motivated, there are countless resources
available to learn more about a subject. Thus, teachers must abandon the mistaken
notion that unless they “cover the content” students will be unprepared for the
future and they will have failed as teachers. Teachers must not worry about “losing”
or “wasting” valuable lecture time for in-class discussion, collaborative problemsolving,
and inquiry-based activities that take time away from covering content.
Rather than worrying about covering content, teachers must design activities to
focus student learning on how to use scientific knowledge to solve important
questions. This is important because learning is not committing a set of facts to
memory but the ability to use resources to find, evaluate, and use information. In
fact, memorizing anything discourages deep thinking. Deep thinking is essential
because understanding is the residue of thinking! To encourage thinking we must
create a joy, an excitement, and a love for learning. We must make learning fun;
because if we are successful, our students will be impatient to run home, study, and
contemplate–to really learn.
develop an interest and love for lifelong learning. Inspiring and motivating students
is critical because unless students are inspired and motivated our efforts are
pointless. Once students are inspired and motivated, there are countless resources
available to learn more about a subject. Thus, teachers must abandon the mistaken
notion that unless they “cover the content” students will be unprepared for the
future and they will have failed as teachers. Teachers must not worry about “losing”
or “wasting” valuable lecture time for in-class discussion, collaborative problemsolving,
and inquiry-based activities that take time away from covering content.
Rather than worrying about covering content, teachers must design activities to
focus student learning on how to use scientific knowledge to solve important
questions. This is important because learning is not committing a set of facts to
memory but the ability to use resources to find, evaluate, and use information. In
fact, memorizing anything discourages deep thinking. Deep thinking is essential
because understanding is the residue of thinking! To encourage thinking we must
create a joy, an excitement, and a love for learning. We must make learning fun;
because if we are successful, our students will be impatient to run home, study, and
contemplate–to really learn.
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