Coda: Effective Teaching: Meeting the 5 M’s

Wilhelm laments the “inadequate and impoverished” orientation of teaching as telling—the simple transmission of information. He believes “effective teaching is about something entirely more complicated and wonderful: the creation of learning cultures that actively assist students not only toward … expertise, but also toward outgrowing their current selves as human beings.” In reading this issue’s articles, Wilhelm was struck by repeated motifs, which he has condensed into a heuristic he calls the 5 M’s: Materials, Methods, Measure, Monitors, and Malleability. He applies these characteristics to effective teaching and to learning outcomes, and believes that they can overcome “bad testing.” He says, “[They] had better. The stakes are high, and so is the challenge.”