3. The science of teaching 
==========================

Notes on technical pedagogy.

Ideas
-----

- "Overarching education" (plenty of math and fundimentals, aimed at systemic thinking,      
  practical applications derived later) is expensive method of teaching.
- Student motivation is scarce, information is abundant. Teaching is a guidance (esp masters level). 
- Can teach programming first, and followup with more solid math second, if ever (programming allows experimenting).
- Need open source textbooks, able to update and share parts of text as well as 
  interactive excercises. Static site generators are not fully there yet.  
  
Links
-----

1\. [10 rules of teaching](http://third-bit.com/10rules/#teaching) by Greg Wilson (@gvwilson) starts with rule #1 "Be kind: all else is details." More detail is at [teachtogether.tech](http://teachtogether.tech/en/).
  
2\. Nick Huntington-Klein [proposes a course structure](https://twitter.com/nickchk/status/1114956341913645058) based on statistical programming, and causal inference/research design, with regressions postponed. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">So, my class that goes at the *beginning* of the econometrics sequence, and focuses entirely on two things: statistical programming, and causal inference/research design. That&#39;s it.</p>&mdash; Nick HK (@nickchk) <a href="https://twitter.com/nickchk/status/1114956343578771456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 

3\. Allen Downey has a [presentation about teaching physical modelling](https://twitter.com/AllenDowney/status/1118255413575680000) and sequencing of math and programming. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A few weeks ago I led a workshop at Harvard on &quot;Using computation to teach everything else&quot;<a href="https://t.co/dUawT1D3Ah">https://t.co/dUawT1D3Ah</a><br><br>The slides for the workshop are at<a href="https://t.co/m641iBRumK">https://t.co/m641iBRumK</a><br><br>Including my favorite provocative slides: <a href="https://t.co/3sRb32LNAI">pic.twitter.com/3sRb32LNAI</a></p>&mdash; Allen Downey (@AllenDowney) <a href="https://twitter.com/AllenDowney/status/1118255413575680000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 16, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 

4\. Very introductory courses are good for building student confidence and making simple things simple. They prevent gate-keeping (maybe a reason why they are attacked). See a thread by 
[Rochelle Terman on teaching computational social science](https://twitter.com/RochelleTerman/status/1126642900006252544).


Technical writing
-----------------

... is important, needs practice and has little substitute. Hard to learn/teach.

Some links:

- [Jeff Bezos 4-6 page memo banning PPT](https://www.anecdote.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Bezos-email.jpg) and [Amazon writing tips](https://twitter.com/subbupl/status/1197523077552164864).



Teaching at...?
---------------

Just to start tracking issues in academic careers, education system and economics
profession.


#### Publishing and promotion - tyranny of top 5

[![](https://voxeu.org/sites/default/files/image/FromMay2014/moktanfig2.png)](https://voxeu.org/article/publishing-and-promotion-economics-tyranny-top-five)


#### American colleges and equal opportunity

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Let’s start with basics I’ve written about in many places, including all three of my books.<br><br>(1) Americans have *never* agreed on equal opportunity for education for all, let alone for higher ed.<br><br>The fact that the Pell Grant was created hardly implies consensus.</p>&mdash; Dr. Sara Goldrick-Rab (@saragoldrickrab) <a href="https://twitter.com/saragoldrickrab/status/1199797770799980546?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

#### Seminar attitudes

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">3 types of seminar comments/attitudes I have observed in economics:<br><br>*How can we improve the world?<br>*What can we learn?/intellectual curiosity <br>*How can I show I&#39;m smarter than you?<br><br>Let&#39;s have less of the last one.<br><br>❤</p>&mdash; Dina D. Pomeranz (@DinaPomeranz) <a href="https://twitter.com/DinaPomeranz/status/1184603549419950081?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 16, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>