Stephen Chew on the Cognitive Challenges of Effective Teaching

On Thursday, October 12, 2023, from 3:30-5:00 p.m., Stephen Chew, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at Samford University, will offer an interactive presentation on "The Cognitive Challenges of Effective Teaching." This event will be held in Teams.

This presentation will highlight the importance of teachers' mental models of how students learn and the potential learning consequences of an incomplete or faulty model. Chew will outline a framework of nine cognitive challenges that teachers and students must overcome together to create effective learning, no matter the faculty member’s teaching method. These challenges include student mental mindset, metacognition and self-regulation, student fear and mistrust, lack of prior knowledge, misconceptions, ineffective learning strategies, transfer of learning, constraints of selective attention, and constraints of mental effort and working memory. Chew will describe how each challenge manifests itself in the classroom and outline ways to address them. Participants will gain an understanding of the context-dependent nature of learning and how that is at odds with the current emphasis on "best practices" in teaching, learn strategies to tackle the nine cognitive challenges, and utilize the framework to enhance teaching practices to optimize student learning.

Chew trained as a cognitive psychologist focusing on the cognitive basis of effective teaching and learning. His YouTube series on teaching college students how to study effectively based on cognitive research has received millions of views. Chew has received numerous awards for his teaching and research, including being named the 2011 Outstanding Master’s Universities and Colleges U.S. Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the American Psychology Foundation's Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award in 2018. He also regularly serves as a keynote speaker and workshop leader at American Psychological Association Conferences.

This event is sponsored by the Center of Faculty Development.

Categories: Education