Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning
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- Create Date：2021-08-23 09:19:00
- Update Date：2025-09-06
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- Author：James M. Lang
- ISBN：1119755549
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Summary
A freshly updated edition featuring research-based teaching techniques that faculty in any discipline can easily implement
Research into how we learn can help facilitate better student learning--if we know how to apply it。 Small Teaching fills the gap in higher education literature between the primary research in cognitive theory and the classroom environment。 In this book， James Lang presents a strategy for improving student learning with a series of small but powerful changes that make a big difference―many of which can be put into practice in a single class period。 These are simple interventions that can be integrated into pre-existing techniques， along with clear descriptions of how to do so。 Inside， you'll find brief classroom or online learning activities， one-time interventions， and small modifications in course design or student communication。 These small tweaks will bring your classroom into alignment with the latest evidence in cognitive research。
Each chapter introduces a basic concept in cognitive research that has implications for classroom teaching， explains the rationale for offering it within a specific time period in a typical class， and then provides concrete examples of how this intervention has been used or could be used by faculty in a variety of disciplines。 The second edition features revised and updated content including a newly authored preface， new examples and techniques， updated research， and updated resources。
How can you make small tweaks to your teaching to bring the latest cognitive science into the classroom？ How can you help students become good at retrieving knowledge from memory？ How does making predictions now help us learn in the future？ How can you build community in the classroom？ Higher education faculty and administrators， as well as K-12 teachers and teacher trainers， will love the easy-to-implement， evidence-based techniques in Small Teaching。
Research into how we learn can help facilitate better student learning--if we know how to apply it。 Small Teaching fills the gap in higher education literature between the primary research in cognitive theory and the classroom environment。 In this book， James Lang presents a strategy for improving student learning with a series of small but powerful changes that make a big difference―many of which can be put into practice in a single class period。 These are simple interventions that can be integrated into pre-existing techniques， along with clear descriptions of how to do so。 Inside， you'll find brief classroom or online learning activities， one-time interventions， and small modifications in course design or student communication。 These small tweaks will bring your classroom into alignment with the latest evidence in cognitive research。
Each chapter introduces a basic concept in cognitive research that has implications for classroom teaching， explains the rationale for offering it within a specific time period in a typical class， and then provides concrete examples of how this intervention has been used or could be used by faculty in a variety of disciplines。 The second edition features revised and updated content including a newly authored preface， new examples and techniques， updated research， and updated resources。
How can you make small tweaks to your teaching to bring the latest cognitive science into the classroom？ How can you help students become good at retrieving knowledge from memory？ How does making predictions now help us learn in the future？ How can you build community in the classroom？ Higher education faculty and administrators， as well as K-12 teachers and teacher trainers， will love the easy-to-implement， evidence-based techniques in Small Teaching。
Reviews
Daniela D
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Small Teaching is a brilliant book for any instructor， but also for students。 James Lang walks us through a series of strategies based on research done in education that would help with learning， which means understanding and retention。 This is very much a reference book， to come back to it every now and again。
Gary
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I appreciate the focus on small changes to improve my teaching。 The techniques described （and backed by research ）are very solid—I look forward to incorporating them in my courses。 The writing style was approachable and the content was on point。 At times， Lang really， really drives home the point through a tad too much repition—in the long run I imagine that helps the concept stick but it makes for an annoying read at times。
Elspeth Leahy
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Very well written book with several practical ideas for higher education teachers about improving learning for students。 Each idea is clearly explained， and multiple examples are provided。 This would be a good book to keep handy for those looking to plan courses or spice up classroom activities。
Katrina Koehler
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Really excellent book of evidence-based techniques you can easily throw into your class to improve student learning。 Will keep for reference purposes and I'm looking forward to designing my classes with these techniques in mind。 Really excellent book of evidence-based techniques you can easily throw into your class to improve student learning。 Will keep for reference purposes and I'm looking forward to designing my classes with these techniques in mind。 。。。more
Dave
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Small Teaching offers many techniques to diversify and enhance one’s teaching。Rather than tell the teacher to overhaul their approach and begin anew， tweaks are given that have been researched and tested to be effective。I really enjoyed going through this book and will definitely be implementing suggestions as well as coming back to this book time and again。
Nithesh S
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This is a must read book if you want to understand how classroom teaching / teaching in general works。 It gives you simple teaching techniques/ hacks that are backed by research and the author's experience。 Even if you are not in the business of teaching， you will understand what kind of approaches help you learn better （aids your efforts in self-learning）。 This is a must read book if you want to understand how classroom teaching / teaching in general works。 It gives you simple teaching techniques/ hacks that are backed by research and the author's experience。 Even if you are not in the business of teaching， you will understand what kind of approaches help you learn better （aids your efforts in self-learning）。 。。。more
William Schlickenmaier
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Transformative。 Already working on how I’ll change my classes in the future。 Cannot recommend strongly enough for teachers of all levels。
Cailey Birchem
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If you're an aspiring， early-career， or veteran — this book as tips for all stages of teaching。 Although I'm looking to teach classes in design specifically， Lang was broad enough to have lessons， strategies， and modules that are able to be applied to a variety of disciplines。 Really enjoyed this read！ If you're an aspiring， early-career， or veteran — this book as tips for all stages of teaching。 Although I'm looking to teach classes in design specifically， Lang was broad enough to have lessons， strategies， and modules that are able to be applied to a variety of disciplines。 Really enjoyed this read！ 。。。more
Phillip
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This is a useful book for teachers because it presents （fairly） specific strategies teachers can use to improve their teaching practices without requiring major overhauls or rethinking of a class。 Lang draws on cognitive science， learning theory， etc。 and has experienced all of the learning practices he promotes （either as a teacher， a student， or an observer）。 The recommendations here are based around helping students retain information， build cognitive and memory networks， and increasing motiv This is a useful book for teachers because it presents （fairly） specific strategies teachers can use to improve their teaching practices without requiring major overhauls or rethinking of a class。 Lang draws on cognitive science， learning theory， etc。 and has experienced all of the learning practices he promotes （either as a teacher， a student， or an observer）。 The recommendations here are based around helping students retain information， build cognitive and memory networks， and increasing motivation。 。。。more
Kristin
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Practical ideas for teaching that are supported by evidence and presented in an accessible way。 I appreciated the structure of each chapter， providing theory， models， principles and tips。 I also enjoyed the coverage of the book， ranging from strategies aimed at knowledge acquisition， understanding。。。and even inspiration （my favorite section）！
Esther Dijkhuizen
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A great bundle of tips that can be easily implemented into the curriculum。 I cannot wait to start doing this！
Karen Eutsler
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A great go-to idea book for teachers
Melissa
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There's not much in this book that experienced and engaged， reflective teachers don't already know and mostly do， but it is a nice summary of high impact approaches that don't require a huge investment of time and resources， and will be extremely helpful to those new to the profession， particularly at the middle， high school， and university levels。 There's not much in this book that experienced and engaged， reflective teachers don't already know and mostly do， but it is a nice summary of high impact approaches that don't require a huge investment of time and resources， and will be extremely helpful to those new to the profession， particularly at the middle， high school， and university levels。 。。。more
Leigh
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Not nearly as good as it could have been， but some good ideas here。
Tamara
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Good ideas about how to implement small changes which make a big impact on student learning。 Lots of different ideas， many would take 5-15 minutes of class time to implement。 Summarizes the studies and evidence behind each one， gives multiple examples of how it might apply in different types of courses。。
Kristin
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Excellent book。 I highly recommend to anyone that is teaching。 It even supports a more random flipping through the book reading rather than going from start to finish。
Andrew Ning
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Not a page turner， but a nice reference。 Incorporates concepts from make it stick， mindset， etc。
Kari
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Lang's examples of scientific studies which support his methods can be a little tedious， but this is a great book to look at if you want to make small changes in your teaching to have a greater impact on your students。 Lang's examples of scientific studies which support his methods can be a little tedious， but this is a great book to look at if you want to make small changes in your teaching to have a greater impact on your students。 。。。more
François Dubé
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Excellente lecture pour tout professeur， spécialement de cégep ou université， mais les principes s'applique à toute forme d'apprentissage。 Appuyé sur beaucoup de littérature scientifique sur le sujet。 Excellente lecture pour tout professeur， spécialement de cégep ou université， mais les principes s'applique à toute forme d'apprentissage。 Appuyé sur beaucoup de littérature scientifique sur le sujet。 。。。more
Fred Rose
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Every summer I try to read a couple books on teaching。 This is one of the better ones I've read。 A great mix of theory and practice。 Easy things to incorporate into my university courses without any major change but I can see how they can help。 Well written。 Every summer I try to read a couple books on teaching。 This is one of the better ones I've read。 A great mix of theory and practice。 Easy things to incorporate into my university courses without any major change but I can see how they can help。 Well written。 。。。more
Susan Sepples
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Incredible insight into day to day teaching。 I reference it constantly and am now reading Small teaching --online--co-authored with an educator with on-line experience。 So much value in this！
Brian Conor
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Great tips for small adjustments anyone can make to improve learning。 Love the organization of the chapters by making clear lists of actionable tasks and diving deeper into the theory and learning science。 Recommend to any educator！
Andrea Westcot
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Useful and practical。 Well organized。
Jeremy
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Well written and solid practical， implementable advice。
Thomas
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To the book's credit it's very readable。 With such clearly-labled and bite-sized sections within equally bite-sized chapters it's definitely something one could easily pick up during a 15 minute break and skim and scan for ideas。 If only it had ideas。。。 While you should never judge a book by it's cover， it's worth mentioning that this book misrepresents itself from the very beginning。 Being called "Small Teaching" one might reasonably assume it is related to teaching at the K-12 level （where mos To the book's credit it's very readable。 With such clearly-labled and bite-sized sections within equally bite-sized chapters it's definitely something one could easily pick up during a 15 minute break and skim and scan for ideas。 If only it had ideas。。。 While you should never judge a book by it's cover， it's worth mentioning that this book misrepresents itself from the very beginning。 Being called "Small Teaching" one might reasonably assume it is related to teaching at the K-12 level （where most teaching takes place）， but it is actually focused on higher education。 That said， much of the research drawn upon to validate the author's claims come from studies in K-12 classrooms。 So what's the issue then？ you might ask。 Well the problem is that none of this research is new to any K-12 educator。 Truly nothing。 I can hardly imagine someone even receiving their teaching license without already knowing these things。 If anything this book is a testament to the incredibly low standards for university professors who are often hired and evaluated based upon their research output rather than student satisfaction or education。Even worse than being ultimately useless for competent K-12 educators， if anyone truly was unfamiliar to such methods they would likely not learn much from this book without requiring supplemental internet searching to truly understand what the methods would look like in the classroom。 In the chapter on "interleaving" James Lang introduces the idea of mixing together topics so that before mastering topic A the teacher will already start introducing B and C before later returning to A。 It's not a bad method， but the author then proceeds to give an example of this where the teacher teaches half of A at the end of class 1， and then the other half of A at the beginning of class 2。 That。。。。that isn't interleaving。 That's just offsetting one's lessons by half a class。 How is anyone supposed to understand interleaving as a concept when the author's very example isn't an example？ One would be better off just googling the 9 chapter titles along with the words "educational approach" and doing their own research than reading this book which spends far more time discussing the research behind an idea than the idea itself。While I should let the review end there， there's a literary pet peeve that I want to address as well。 It's one thing for， say， stand-up comedians to lie about their personal lives for the sake of a joke。 That's fine。 It's another thing for author's to lie about their lives for the sake of an introduction。 James Lang， at the beginning of chapter 3， claims to have studied Latin， Greek， French， Italian， and Gaelic。 He says that language learning is one of his favorite pastimes。 He then goes on to say that while writing this book be started learning Spanish， and found that he was forgetting words as he continued to learn new ones。 It then miraculously dawns on him that perhaps he should review old words while also learning new words。 Stunning！ Remarkable！ What a discovery！ This man has studied six languages in addition to his native English and only just now he realized that reviewing vocabulary helps one learn vocabulary？ Either this is a fabrication for the sake of introducing the topic， or it explains why he thought this book needed to be written in the first place。 。。。more
Bailey L。
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This book was a refresher on retrieval practice， interleaving， predicting， starting with stories， growth mindset responses to "I'm a bad writer" and giving positive feedback about their performance on this writing （not on their abilities as a writer in general）。 It was a reminder that showing up early and talking to every student possible is valuable， giving a lot of writing feedback motivates students， sharing my passion about the topic with them helps， and to give all students a hypothesis of This book was a refresher on retrieval practice， interleaving， predicting， starting with stories， growth mindset responses to "I'm a bad writer" and giving positive feedback about their performance on this writing （not on their abilities as a writer in general）。 It was a reminder that showing up early and talking to every student possible is valuable， giving a lot of writing feedback motivates students， sharing my passion about the topic with them helps， and to give all students a hypothesis of generosity。 These are refreshers that I was in need of and grateful for。I learned copious new "Small Teaching" tactics in the book， including:-Start with opening questions to help them remember what we have done recently -Transfer the idea of retrieval practice to the syllabus and have them bring every day and let them influence grading scheme to an extent-Close class but asking them to remember most important thing from that day -In 2nd class， ask what questions they want answered for the semester from the classLessons in teaching from this book that I have found affirming/to ring true from my experience:Poor grammar and mechanical programs usually means shallow thinking， lack of attention， structural problems。In order to master a skill， we have to be able to do it without thinking。 （So we should spend time in class even on small things like mechanics; otherwise they won't be able to do it with confidence after the course。 If not me， then who？）Providing feedback makes a world of a difference。 Looking at several students' work helps me to better show them what the common mistakes are。Strategies I intend to try for the first time or be better at:-Look at syllabus for where I can do small teaching-Explain not just what we are doing but why-Make them stop and identify the principle - ask them why they are doing this or that -Use office hours as time for self explanatory writing feedback-Start class with a great sentence from a past/current student I was also able to meet Lang this past year and was thankful for good conversation on effective teaching and learning。 I highly respect his work and his recommendations at the end of the book。 Worth a read for any teacher who wants to be better！ 。。。more
Alicia
，
I am a high school teacher， but I still found the information in this book （which is geared more toward university professors） to be highly relevant and helpful。 It was great to get such a thorough overview of the research on so many strategies that we employ as teachers。 This book gave me several concrete ideas for things I can do to improve my classes。 I was aware of many of the strategies and ideas presented in this book， but seeing the research behind them made me feel more committed to impl I am a high school teacher， but I still found the information in this book （which is geared more toward university professors） to be highly relevant and helpful。 It was great to get such a thorough overview of the research on so many strategies that we employ as teachers。 This book gave me several concrete ideas for things I can do to improve my classes。 I was aware of many of the strategies and ideas presented in this book， but seeing the research behind them made me feel more committed to implementing them in an intentional way。 Here are a few of my takeaways and plans:1。 Be very transparent with my students about the research/purpose behind the things we do in education。 Help them to understand why it is important to have pretests， cumulative tests， and continually review older material。2。 Retrieving: Students need to practice retrieving information that they have learned。 I will continue to implement quizzes at the beginning of class （not always， but often） and will have unlimited attempts on these quizzes so that students get multiple opportunities to retrieve the information。 I will also have a short writing assignment at the end of class where students have to answer a question or summarize the important takeaways for the day。3。 Predicting: Use pretests as a learning tool to help students see where the unit is going。 Use prediction more intentionally as a way to help students activate prior knowledge so that new learning "sticks"4。 Interleaving: Daily quizzes and tests should occasionally include older material to strengthen students' connection to that material。 Even though students won't like it， tests should be cumulative。 This is especially important for problem-solving skills。 If content is not interleaved， students will be less able to apply their skills to different situations。 Massed practice is very effective in the short term， but not in the long term。 Spaced practice is less effective in the short term， but more effective in the long term。 When students have to use effort to retrieve old concepts， it helps consolidate the learning。5。 Connecting: Experts have a complex network of knowledge and so they learn new things quickly because they can make so many connections。 Novices have less connections and the more we can help them make， the more the learning will stick and feel meaningful。 At the beginning of a unit， I will ask students to make concept maps， do short writing assignments， or have short discussions about what they already know about the topic。 I will write the skeletal outline and key terms on the board during each class so that there is a scaffold available for students。 I will use the minute thesis idea with experimental design。 This involves having different concepts on the board （mass， length， time， volume， etc。） and having students connect them and then give a short explanation on how those connections make sense。6。 Practicing: Students should engage in mindful learning， which involves practicing， but not the type of practicing that causes the activity to become rote and mindless。 I need to help students learn to continually monitor why they are doing things， what they could do differently， how the problem would turn out if they took a different approach。 Much of this will need to be done via discussion （with me and other students in the class）。 Providing students feedback while they are working is the key to helping students become mindful learners。 Helping students understand that getting feedback from me is normal and part of class culture is also important。 I also need to look at my assessments and figure out what skills students will need to use on those assessments and then give them time to practice those skills。 To help students practice presentations， I will give a few assignments where all they are required to do is to create a single slide and practice presenting it。7。 Self Explaining: Good students monitor their own comprehension。 They know when they don't understand something。 I create practice assignments where students have to perform tasks and explain why they are performing them。 I need to help them understand that if they can't explain why they are doing something， they have more work to do。 I should tell students from the beginning that I want each of them to come to a point where they don't understand why they are doing something， recognize that they don't understand， and then ask about it。 A self explaining activity could involve having students do problems on whiteboards individually， explain their solution to their neighbor， review their own solution， and then hold up their answer。 Ask students "How do you know that？" Asking for too much explanation at early stages can make learning more difficult， so in early stages， self-explaining can start with something as simple as selecting from several approaches。 "Backwards fading" worksheets （where students start with example problems and then are given less and less help） are a good way to scaffold as well。8。 Motivating: Instructor enthusiasm is hugely important in student enjoyment of and value of subject matter。 I can increase enthusiasm by projecting an interesting picture， fact， or news story each day at the beginning of class。 I can also make an effort to speak to every student individually at least once。 I can also be more deliberate about using stories。 Stories evoke emotions and help learning happen。 Present material as the answer to a question。 On the disclosure， I can include the promises that my class makes to the students。 I can connect to what I am enthusiastic about for each day's material。 I should ask myself what the emotional heart of what I am teaching is。9。 Growing: Help students believe that they can grow in their abilities in my course。 Make sure this is included on the disclosure， discussed on the first day， and obvious in the way I praise and encourage students。 。。。more
Lance McNeill
，
Great resource for teachers and professors I picked up several great suggestions from this book and will use them to guide some changes to my syllabus next semester。 I’m also interested in reading the follow on book about small teaching online since a lot is going that direction post COVID。
Mark Valentine
，
I found this affirming and encouraging: Affirming because it touches on classroom practices that I have already been practicing to some degree and encouraging because of the many practical， useful theories and strategies that Lang presents that I can still use。 His writing style is straightforward， never condescending， accessible， and direct。 I wish he had begun his book with his section on Understanding instead of ending with it。 I thought it inspirational and motivating。 Inside that section， h I found this affirming and encouraging: Affirming because it touches on classroom practices that I have already been practicing to some degree and encouraging because of the many practical， useful theories and strategies that Lang presents that I can still use。 His writing style is straightforward， never condescending， accessible， and direct。 I wish he had begun his book with his section on Understanding instead of ending with it。 I thought it inspirational and motivating。 Inside that section， he wrote on motivating， growing， and expanding our work with students。 Rather， he started with a section on Knowledge with chapters on retrieving， predicting， and interweaving--with practices and suggestions of things which can be used in the first minutes or at the end of a class session。I expect I will be referring to this book repeatedly。 His suggestions for incorporating the practice will serve me and I am grateful to him。 。。。more
Michael
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