Book Review

Thinking About Teaching and Learning by Robert Leamnson
Reviewed by Angela M. McGuirk

Robert Leamnson’s Thinking About Teaching and Learning (Sterling, Virginia: Stylus Publishing, 2001) delves into how university faculty (especially those teaching first year students) can develop and promote habits of learning.  Leamnson is a long-time instructor in college biology with experience teaching at the secondary and tertiary levels.  In this book he utilizes recent discoveries about the biological basis of learning and his own definitions of teaching, learning, and education to offer practical advice and insight in classroom techniques that can be used in and out of the classroom. 

Chapters addressed throughout the book include: Thinking About Thinking About Teaching, The Biological Basis of Learning, Language, Today’s First Year Students, Teaching and Pedagogy, The Classroom, Writing and Other Technologies, and Final Thoughts.  Within these main topics Leamnson includes areas such as how a teaching philosophy is developed and its importance, culture, motivation, preparation of students and instructors, and learning as language development. Though this book is written for those who have the difficult job of teaching freshman cohorts, the information is easily translated to courses beyond the first year and to many different disciplines. 

This book is useful for any higher education teacher who would like to refresh and re-examine their classroom practice and teaching philosophy.  Leamnson states as instructors we need to consider and reflect on what we teach. We also need to reflect on the effects of our pedagogy and teaching philosophy on our students and how it impacts them.  This well-written book is a quick, easy, and enlightening read that can be beneficial for both the novice and experienced instructors. 

As a recent CMU graduate who will soon be a college instructor, I found Robert Leamnson’s book both thought provoking and useful to me as I venture from the world of college student to college instructor

Title: Thinking About Teaching and Learning
Author: Robert Leamnson
Publisher: Stylus Publishing
Pages: Softcover 256 pages
ISBN: 1-579-22013-4
List Price: $22.50