Goals:  You will examine several perspectives how people learn in order to (i) develop your understanding of the learning process; (ii) critically engage with some of the debates on learning that influence approaches to learning and teaching; and (iii) use the literature on learning to inform how you structure, critique and adapt learning opportunities for the students in front of you.

Assignments
** Readings are listed in the weekly schedule**

1. Written exploration (due week 2 — Monday, Oct 1st) – Your preparation for this week is to investigate what it means to come to know something very well and what distinguishes this kind of knowledge or skill from things that someone has found difficult to learn.  You’ll do this by examining a story about learning.  Here are your choices: (i) read one of the stories listed on Moodle for this week; (ii) interview a fellow classmate; or (iii) interview yourself.   The questions that guide your investigation should allow you to write in response to the following prompts: List the steps learner went through to know this particular skill or area of knowledge so well?  How did s/he begin?  What did s/he do next?  And then?   Compare this experience with something this person struggled to learn. How do you make sense of why you had such different experiences with these two learning experiences
2. Jigsaw Teaching Preparation (due week 3 — Monday, Oct 8^th) —   This week you will teach your peers about one of the functions of the brain and it’s role in learning.  Your preparation will involve several steps: (i) Reading your assigned chapter and collaborating with a partner to make sense of how your part(s) of the brain works and what its function is for learning; (ii) Identifying at least one interactive example to help your peers understand the key points about the how that part of the brain works; (iii) the recommendations Zull makes for teachers to support the learning using each part of the brain; and (iv) using one of the principles related to your chapter to inform your teaching strategy.
3. Critical reflection on jigsaw teaching  (due week 4 – Monday, Oct 15^th)  — Summarize 2-3 insights gained from peer feedback on your teaching. Identify something that helped folks to learn.  Why, given what you are learning about the learning cycle, might that have been useful?  Pick 1-2 things that you will refine for next time.  Explain how and why

4. Reading preparations (due weeks 5-10 — Mondays)