Description
Join us for two interactive mini-workshops by doctoral students taking part in the advanced Certificate in University Teaching (CUT) program, and find out more about the educational research interests of your fellow graduate students across campus. This will be a 1.5 hour-long session that will count toward your Fundamentals workshop credit.
Empirically Supported Strategies for Encouraging Critical Thinking (interactive workshop; 45 min.), Sarah McCrackin, Department of Psychology
Teaching students to think critically is undeniably one of the most important goals of university education. Accordingly, much of the teaching literature is focused on how to improve critical thinking. Unfortunately, many of these papers contain anecdotal evidence or ideas which have not been supported by empirical data. This workshop will address this problem by discussing three teaching techniques which have been empirically tested and found to reliably illicit critical thinking gains across multiple investigations. This workshop is intended for members of all disciplines seeking to work together to develop an empirically-supported framework for teaching critical thinking at the university level.
Methods to Reduce Mistake Anxiety in Instructional Laboratory Components (interactive workshop; 45 min.), Daniel Viggiani, Department of Kinesiology
In this workshop, participants will have the chance to consider the advantages and disadvantages of letting students fail during the learning process, how instructors can shape student’s expectations towards errorless and errorful learning, and work towards generating solutions for their own use. Both neurological (Dehaene, Posner, & Tucker, 1994; Gehring, Goss, Coles, Meyer, & Donchin, 1993) and pedagogical (Cho & Nagle, 2017; Henderson & Harper, 2009; Kornell, Hays, & Bjork, 2009; Schwartz, Bransford, & Sears, 2005) perspectives are provided. Much of the workshop will focus on recognizing sources of anxiety related to mistakes (Matson, 1991; Steuer, Rosentritt-Brunn, & Dresel, 2013), and generating usable solutions to help reduce this anxiety.
Registration
- Registration is required. Difficulty registering? Read our registration help guide.
- Participants will receive an attendance credit towards the Fundamentals program if they arrive on time and stay until the end of the event.
- A maximum of one special topic workshops can be counted towards your Fundamentals certificate.
Cancellations
Many of our workshops have waiting lists, so if you've registered but can't attend, please notify us 24 hours in advance (at cte-grad@uwaterloo.ca ) so that we can give your spot to someone else.
Accessibility
The University of Waterloo is committed to achieving barrier-free accessibility for persons with disabilities who are studying, working, or visiting at Waterloo. If you have questions concerning access, such as parking, building layouts, or obtaining information in alternative formats, or wish to request accommodations for a CTE workshop or event, please contact CTE via email (cte@uwaterloo.ca) or phone (ext. 33857) and include the session’s title and date. Our workshops typically involve a mix of presentation and discussion-based activities, and we encourage a scent-free environment. We also welcome accompanying assistants, interpreters, or note-takers; notify us if accommodations are needed in this regard. Please note that some accommodations may require time to arrange.