1st Edition
Teaching and Learning the West Point Way Educating the Next Generation of Leaders
Teaching and Learning the West Point Way is a unique compendium of the best teaching and learning practices from one of the most celebrated and storied undergraduate teaching and learning environments and institutions in America – the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, USA.
Drawing on the broad academic curriculum that the students follow at West Point – in addition to military leadership, character development, and competitive athletics – this book describes proven and effective undergraduate pedagogy across a number of academic disciplines. Case studies, strategies and techniques, empirical teaching and learning research results, syllabi, and assignments developed and deployed by West Point faculty are included, which faculty in other higher education institutions can adapt and apply to their own programs and courses. An accompanying companion website provides additional syllabi, course guides, lesson plans, PowerPoint activities, and lecture slides, as well as videos of the editors and authors discussing how key concepts in their chapters might be applied in different teaching and learning contexts.
This is an opportunity to gain an in-depth insight into the programs and practices inside one of the world’s premier leadership development and educational institutions. It should appeal to new and experienced faculty and administrators interested in course creation and syllabus design across a wide range of disciplines in educational institutions and military academies across the globe.
Foreword
Introduction
Educating future Army Leaders for a Diverse and Dynamic World
Various West Point Authors
Syllabi
Raymond A. Kimball, Section Editor
Chapter 1: Military Leadership: Purpose, Direction, Motivation
Russell P. Lemler and Jordon E. Swain
Chapter 2: Infrastructure Engineering: Appreciating the Art and Science of Our Built Environment
J. Ledlie Klosky and Brian Riser
Chapter 3: Armed Forces & Society: Thank You for (Y)our Service
Morten G. Ender
Chapter 4: Chemical Engineering Lab: Getting Results
Matthew Armstrong, April Miller, Andrew Pfluger, Geoffrey Bull, Corey James, Enoch J. Nagelli, Trevor Corrigan, and Andrew Biaglow
Chapter 5: Entrepreneurial Leadership: Shark Tank for Warriors
Lissa V. Young
Chapter 6: Officership: Developing Professional Knowledge, Identity, and Inspiration
Jeffrey Peterson, Matthew S. Arbogast, and Matthew K. Clark
Assignments
Raymond A. Kimball, Section Editor
Chapter 7: The Ethics of AI in War: Digital Trigger
Scott Parsons, Christopher Korpela, and William J. Barry
Chapter 8: An Undergraduate Project to Develop Statistical Thinking and Writing: Iterating to Success
Kevin Cummiskey, James Pleuss, Bryan Adams, Dusty Turner, Randal Hickman, Charles Sulewski, and Krista Watts
Chapter 9: A Proflective Writing Assignment in Advanced General Psychology for Leaders: Letter to the Future Self
Elizabeth L. Wetzler and David T. Feltner
Chapter 10: Harnessing Storytelling to Improve Students’ Scientific Communication: Narrating Science
Melissa Eslinger, Jason O. Hoppe, and Peter L. Zhu
Chapter 11: Leadership in Combat Writing Assignments - In Extremis
Brian J. Reed and Nicole Kruse
Chapter 12: The Intellectual Giant Model of Teaching: Sharp-shoot, Integrate, and Apply
Everett S. P. Spain
Teaching Notes
Morten G. Ender, Section Editor
Chapter 13: Synthesizing Art, Language, and History: Creating Empathetic Leaders of Character in the Foreign Language Classroom
Diane Richardson and Xenia Srebrianski Harwell
Chapter 14: Simulating Combat Modeling in Engineering: My Roommate Was Jealous
Vikram Mittal, Gene J. Lesinski, and Matthew F. Dabkowski
Chapter 15: Tapping Feature Films for Classroom Debates: Transformational or Toxic Leaders?
Jordon E. Swain, Everett S. P. Spain, Archie L. Bates III, and Joshua C. Bowen
Chapter 16: Bringing the Thayer Method into the 21st Century: T21
Corey S. Gerving, Cathleen B. Barker, Travis R. Barker, James C. Bowen, David W. Hutchinson, and Andrew S. Wilhelm
Chapter 17: Peer Assessment and Coaching: As Iron Sharpens Iron
Ross M. Skilling
Chapter 18: Experiencing Social Class Inequality: Modified Monopoly
Morten G. Ender
Chapter 19: Preparing Students to Lead Productive Discussions: Discuss til they Drop
Stephen Finn
Chapter 20: Using Virtual Battlespace Gaming Simulations in the Classroom: Searching for IEDs in Class
Elizabeth L. Wetzler, Lisa M. Korenman, and Arianna D. Morell
Chapter 21: Making Leaders at the Group Level: The Cadet Company
Brian J. Reed, David B. Lora, and David G. Weart
Chapter 22: Teaching Russian Political Discourse: Classroom Oral Presentation and Discussion
Olga Dobrunoff
Chapter 23: Enhancing Written and Oral Analysis in a Life Science Course: Literary Biologists
Melissa Eslinger, Ryan E. Rodriguez, and Kathleen LeForte
Chapter 24: Enhancing the Foreign Language Classroom through Experiential Learning: Connecting and Reflecting
Sherry A. Maggin, John M. Pendergast, and Julia M. Praud
Chapter 25: Deliberately Integrating Teaching, Learning, and Assessment: The Signature Work of the West Point Writing Program
Jason O. Hoppe and Colleen G. Eils
Chapter 26: Does Active Learning Translate into Actual Learning in Psychology?: Dog Day
Aryn A. Pyke and Tracie M. Caccavale
Empirical Articles
Jakob Bruhl, Section Editor
Chapter 27: Developing the Cutting Edge of Assessment Techniques: Discovery Learning Assessments
Kristin M. Arney, Kayla K. Blyman, Lisa Bromberg, Jennifer Cepeda, David L. Harness, and Scott Lynch
Chapter 28: Understanding Positive Change in Academic Performance: The Most Improved Student
Paul F. Evangelista and Gess LeBlanc
Chapter 29: Epistemic Expressions of Point of View in Russian: A Sample System of Classroom Activities
Olga Dobrunoff
Chapter 30: The Validity of the College Entrance Examination Rank in Predicting Student Success in Chemical Engineering: Predicting Academic Success
Trevor Corrigan, Andrew Pfluger, Bryan Jonas, April Miller, H. Daniel Bahaghighat, Eric Mowles, Geoffrey Bull, Corey James, Enoch A. Nagelli, Melissa Eslinger, Matthew Armstrong, Russell Lachance, and Andrew Biaglow
Chapter 31: An Investigation on the Effect of Out-Of-Class Assignments on Student Performance: The Homework Tightrope
Daniel J. Newell and J.D. Caddell
Chapter 32: Memory Recall Exercises: Food for Thought
Michael B. Wright, Sean R. McMahon, Cole A. Spitzack, Dale J. Hommerding, and George J. Fust III
Interdisciplinary Articles
Rachel M. Sondheimer, Section Editor
Chapter 33: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Student Understanding of Microbial Diversity: You Are What You Touch
Melissa Eslinger, Ryan E. Rodriguez, Elizabeth Mentis
Chapter 34: The Impact of the Vertical Writing Surface on Teaching and Learning in Different Disciplines: The Writing's on the Wall
Raymond A. Kimball, Jack Cooperman, Chris Fuhriman, and Eric J. Simpson
Chapter 35: Staff Rides 2.0: Expanding on an Old Army Tradition
Lionel Beehner, Liam Collins, Robert J. Goldstein, and Jason R. Musteen
Epilogue
Teaching and Learning in a COVID-19 World
Lynnan Mocek, Raymond A. Kimball, and Rebecca Jones-Kellogg
Biography
Morten G. Ender, Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of Diversity & Inclusion Studies, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership, U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Raymond A. Kimball, Chief of Faculty Development, U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Rachel M. Sondheimer, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
Jakob C. Bruhl, Associate Professor of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
"This book encourages bridging between disciplinary areas to facilitate collaboration amongst faculty and to optimize opportunities for student learning. It is perfect for faculty development programs that aim to engage faculty in small interdisciplinary cohorts that can discuss course pedagogy and share effective approaches to course creation, syllabus design, and assignment development. The editors are uniquely qualified to promote the book’s interdisciplinary message based on a blend of expertise that cuts across various academic disciplines and the civilian and military faculty at West Point."
Jeffrey B. Lovelace, Assistant Professor of Commerce, University of Virginia, United States of America.
"This book is unique in that it covers military education and design ‘soup to nuts’—that is, from top-level design to lesson-plans, as well as overarching strategies. There are a significant number of military education institutions in the US and US-looking countries that would find this useful."
Kristian Gustafson, Reader in Intelligence and Security Studies, Brunel University London, United Kingdom.
"This volume’s combination of syllabi, assignments, and articles make it a unique and valuable resource for teachers from the secondary to the university levels. For educators who are willing to explore pedagogical practices applied in varied disciplines to see how they might adapt a given assignment or teaching technique in their own discipline/classroom, this volume stands out as a highly practical interdisciplinary work of scholarship."
Ryan Kelty, Associate Professor of Sociology, United States Air Force Academy, United States of America.
