Читать книгу Engaging Ideas - John C. Bean - Страница 43

Most teachers believe that writing applies naturally to English courses, liberal arts courses, and certain specialized courses in their fields. They may not, however, believe that writing is equally appropriate in their own courses. These doubts are frequently expressed by teachers of quantitative or technical courses or ones that focus on basic facts, concepts, or algorithmic procedures that, according to the teacher, must be “committed to memory” before the student can move on to problem‐solving and analysis. If we apply some conceptual blockbusting, however, we see that writing assignments can be used profitably in any course. (Our point is exemplified by the wide range of disciplines represented in this book—accounting, physics, chemistry, all levels of mathematics, nursing, business, education, and engineering, as well as the humanities and social sciences.) By conceptual blockbusting, we mean primarily rethinking what constitutes a writing assignment. Many of the assignments in this book are nongraded or are very short formal tasks designed to help students understand an important course concept. Others have a metacognitive aim—helping students reflect on their own thinking processes or productively altering their methods of studying or reading. Still others have a procedural aim—helping students learn disciplinary methods of inquiry and analysis. Whatever a teacher's goals for a course, writing assignments can be designed to help students meet them.