This paper makes a conceptual argument for using the Decoding the Disciplines research paradigm as a pedagogical innovation in the field of teacher education. It incorporates empirical findings from a research project in which teacher candidates conduct Decoding interviews to deepen understanding of historical thinking and learn pedagogical…

This paper describes our experiences with implementing an innovative approach to decoding our discipline, which involves writing dialogue-driven stories that explore authentic, context-rich problems within introductory business statistics. Our paper begins by introducing the decoding model created by Middendorf and Pace (2004). We then explain why…

The Decoding the Disciplines methodology aims to teach students to think like experts in discipline-specific tasks. The central aspect of the methodology is to identify a bottleneck in the course content: a particular topic that a substantial number of students struggle to master. The current study compared the efficacy of standard lecture and…

In this chapter we describe the Decoding the Disciplines Faculty Learning Community at Mount Royal University and how Decoding has been used in new and multidisciplinary ways in the various teaching, curriculum, and research projects that are presented in detail in subsequent chapters.

This final chapter synthesizes the findings and implications derived from applying the Decoding the Disciplines model across disciplines and within communities of practice. We make practical suggestions for teachers and researchers who wish to apply and extend this work.

Decoding the Disciplines has emerged as one of the foremost approaches to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and is being used to increase learning across the globe. But it is often not recognized that the paradigm has undergone enormous changes since its appearance in 2004. The original model has been clarified and perfected, but…

The understandings and preconceptions students bring into the history classroom can interfere with student learning. Analyses of student and professor interviews in light of emotional bottlenecks revealed two different, though related, student preconceptions: procedural preconceptions about history as a field of study and pre-existing worldviews…

Using case study methodology and autoethnographic methods, this study examines a process of curricular development known as "Decoding the Disciplines" (Decoding) by documenting the experience of its application in a construction engineering mechanics course. Motivated by the call to integrate what is known about teaching and learning…

Faculty learning about service-learning is an important area of research because understanding how faculty develop their practice is an important first step in improving student learning outcomes and relationships with community members. Enacting reciprocity in service-learning can be particularly troublesome because it requires faculty to learn…

Pedagogically, the term "bottleneck" refers to a moment when students may face barriers to understanding content in the process of learning. As instructors identify "bottlenecks" within their courses, they are faced with the challenge of how to best assist students in overcoming them. Further, most instructors want to know what selected teaching…

This Scholarship of Teaching and Learning project discusses the effectiveness of using distance metaphor-building activities along with a case study exam to help undergraduate nonscience majors understand and apply geologic time. Using action research, we describe how a scholarly teacher integrated previously published and often-used teaching…

In this article, the author suggests some principles to be considered when attempting to assess learning in history courses. He has found it most effective to pursue these goals within the framework of the Decoding the Disciplines process. This approach, developed in the Indiana University Freshman Learning Project, suggests that faculty seeking…

This chapter argues that expert practice is an inquiry that surfaces a hermeneutic relationship between theory, practice, and the world, with implications for new lines of questioning in the Decoding interview.

This chapter describes how seven disciplinary bottlenecks from four diverse disciplines were analyzed using a phenomenological perspective and includes a discussion of embodied knowing and implications for educators.

This chapter presents the bottlenecks identified by seven faculty members from diverse disciplines and an inductive content analysis of their Decoding interviews. Representative quotations illustrate themes in the interviews and we consider the implications for both faculty development and pedagogical research.