Exploring More Signature Pedagogies

"This work, in addition to the editors' preceding book on signature pedagogies, is a valuable source of information. It uncovers what disciplinary experts value in their field, and how and why they teach the way they do. An instructor who reads this book will be exposed to the signature pedagogies of other disciplines and, in turn, may be prompted to step back and try something new. The book also illustrates the broad range of work in the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), the commonalities between and among disciplines, and the degrees of SoTL maturity within the disciplines. It has sparked my interest to learn more about signature pedagogies, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and their interrelationship."

Canadian Journal of University Continuing Education

"Includes discussion of teaching approaches in interdisciplinary fields, among them women's and disability studies."

The Chronicle of Higher Ed

"Books that tell us what the best teachers do and how learning works are valuable. But if disciplinary fields matter for teaching and learning, and surely they do, then knowing the seven (or whatever) habits of highly effective teachers is not going to be enough to make one a first-rate teacher of philosophy, chemistry, women’s studies, or anything else. For that, it is immensely helpful to know the state of the art of effective teaching in one’s own field. No one is doing more to advance our knowledge of how the disciplines construct teaching and learning than the teacher/scholars who have collaborated on this and a predecessor volume examining disciplinary habits of head, hand, and heart in the classroom. Here are honest, fresh assessments of the state of the art of teaching across a wide variety of fields, with thoughtful attention to unsettled questions, international differences, and the changing nature of the disciplines in recent years."

Lendol Calder, Professor of History

Augustana College

“Essays exploring the signature pedagogy in a discipline provide a systematic account of the relation among evidence, methodology and the teaching of the field. This second volume of essays greatly expands the menu of fields of study presented in this engaging and generative way. While there is enormous benefit to us all from reading deeply in educational research literature, most faculty members find it more compelling to consider powerful ideas and tools in education when they are situated within familiar topics, challenges, and intellectual goals. Progressive teaching now takes an inductive approach, starting from students’ existing experience, interests, and understanding and moving toward general understanding of phenomena and conceptual synthesis of intellectual work. In the same way, this volume continues the effective articulation of characteristic teaching within specific fields of study, making it more likely that professors from many fields will meaningfully engage the literature of education research in general.”

Dan Bernstein, Director, Center for Teaching Excellence, and Professor of Psychology

University of Kansas

“This second volume of Exploring Signature Pedagogies significantly advances what we know about the subject by expanding the number of disciplines now in the discussion. More professions, interdisciplinary fields, and disciplines are included. Perhaps more importantly, however, each author carefully describes and evaluates the current connections (and disconnections) between what a field or discipline values and how it instills (or not) those values in its future practitioners through the teaching and learning experiences it designs. In so doing, the authors make many useful distinctions and observations that expand our thinking about individual fields or disciplines, the concept of a signature pedagogy itself, and the role this concept can play in helping us frame an agenda for research and development in teaching and learning."

Anthony A. Ciccone, from the Foreword

“Volume two of Exploring Signature Pedagogies offers just the right complement to volume one with evidence-informed chapters on signature pedagogies in a new and diverse set of disciplines and interdisciplinary fields, including those underrepresented in scholarship of teaching and learning work. The chapters demonstrate the fluidity and complexity of habits of the mind and signature pedagogies in both theory and practice, and offer brief critical reflections on the real and ideal states of scholarship of teaching and learning in the fields represented. Thus, readers will experience the joy and challenge, as well as reap the benefits, of learning about fields beyond their own. The volume will encourage readers to go beyond the false dichotomy of a focus on generic teaching best practices vs. disciplinary specific deep knowledge for teaching."

Kathleen McKinney, Cross Endowed Chair in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Illinois State University