How People Learn - The Latest Research -view video
Date: Nov 09, 2004
Presenter: UM President Emeritus Mel George

UM President Emeritus, Mel George, brought the fascinating topic of how people learn to the leadership community. Using the text How People Learn from the National Research Council as a foundation for his discussion, Mel highlighted some of the barriers to effective learning. He challenged the audience to think beyond the typical, traditional barriers to consider those less conventional. Using the information from How People Learn and a variety of other studies, Mel identified barriers to learning as the preconceived misconceptions of students and an inability of students to conceptualize data. He also offered effective strategies to counter these barriers.

This discussion was taped so the entire campus could benefit from the information presented. Click here to view the video.

Melvin D. George is President Emeritus of the University of Missouri, President Emeritus of St. Olaf College, and Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, University of Missouri-Columbia. After receiving a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Princeton University, George joined the faculty of the University of Missouri in 1960. He became Associate Dean of the Graduate School in 1967, then moved to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1970 as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He returned to the University of Missouri as system-wide Vice President for Academic Affairs in 1975, serving as Interim President in 1984 before moving to St. Olaf College in Minnesota as President in 1985. Following his retirement from St. Olaf nine years later, George served for nearly two years as Vice President for Institutional Relations at the University of Minnesota. He returned to Missouri in 1996 and served a second time as Interim President of the University of Missouri system in 1996-97. During the period 1994-96, he chaired the National Science Foundation’s review of undergraduate science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education, culminating in the report “Shaping the Future: New Expectations in Undergraduate Education in SMET.” George also chaired (1997-99) the Missouri K-16 Coalition, a statewide group appointed by the State Board of Education, the Missouri Coordinating Board for Higher Education, and the Curators of the University of Missouri to make K-16 education in the state more seamless, with higher expectations for student learning, beginning with mathematics. George has served as a member of the Mathematical Sciences Education Board of the National Research Council and currently serves on both the Advisory Board of the NRC’s Center for Education and the NRC’s Division for Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. He often serves as a panelist for NSF programs in education and as a consultant to institutions of higher education. He has several times taught a University of Missouri Honors College course on “Mathematics and Music” and continues to speak on topics of teaching and learning, especially in the areas of science and mathematics.