Inventio
creative thinking about learning and teaching
February 1999 Vol 1, No 1In this IssueAbout InventioEditorial Board
The Scholarship of Teaching as Science and as Art
Mary Cipriano Silva (George Mason University)
 

© Copyright 1998-99 by Mary Cipriano Silva (msilva@gmu.edu)  The right to make additional exact copies, including this notice, for personal and classroom use, is hereby granted. All other forms of distribution and copying require permission of the author.

 

Then said a teacher, speak to us of Teaching.
And he said . . .
If [the teacher] is indeed wise
he does not bid you enter the house
of his wisdom, but rather leads you
to the threshold of your own mind.

Introduction

Gibran (56) implies that a good teacher is wise and possesses wisdom. I believe his word choice of wisdom, not knowledge, was deliberate. For a teacher can possess much knowledge but little wisdom. Such a teacher, I think, would not grasp the concept of  "the scholarship of teaching."  For underlying these few words is an implicit philosophy about teaching and about learning. In keeping with Gibran, I first put forth my own philosophy about these matters so that you can better understand my views about them. I then move on to discuss scholars, scholarships, and examples of pedagogy as they relate to the scholarship of teaching in nursing and health science. Finally, I offer my own definition of the scholarship of teaching.

Next Section: Personal Philosophy