Content

Written in the FU Berlin’s mission statement for teaching and education is this statement: “Freie Universität Berlin understands competencies in the sense of an individual’s willingness and ability to work through complex issues using critical thinking.” Let us discuss how we - as educators – can help shape the attitudes in order to promote overall learning.

• Introduction to student attitudes and beliefs
• Setting up expectations and affecting student motivation
• Assessing changes in motivation
• How to shift attitudes (epistemological change)
• How to reflect with your students about expectations and attitudes towards learning

Learning Goals

• Explain how the attitude and motivation of students can affect learning
• Explain why it is difficult to teach attitude change and how to promote attitude change in classes – both online and face-to-face
• Discuss and compare activities that can change the attitudes of students

Short biography

Brett Gilley is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia. Brett loves teaching geology and natural disasters and works hard to improve geoscience education. He was part of the Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative for more than 7 years and helped to improve many of the department’s courses during that time. Brett’s current work is centered around increasing accessibility of Geoscience field trips and demonstrating the effectiveness of two stage exams on student learning and retention.