From the issue dated April 9, 2004 http://chronicle.com/weekly/v50/i31/31b00701.htm What Makes Great Teachers Great? By KEN BAIN When Ralph Lynn retired as a professor of history at Baylor University in 1974, dozens of his former students paid him tribute. One student, Ann Richards, who became the governor of Texas in 1991, wrote that Lynn's classes were like "magical tours into the great minds and movements of history." Another student, Hal Wingo, an editor of People magazine, concluded that Lynn offered the best argument he knew for human cloning. "Nothing would give me more hope for the future," the editor explained, "than to think that Ralph Lynn, in all his wisdom and wit, will be around educating new generations from here to eternity." What did Lynn do to have such a sustained and substantial influence on the intellectual and moral development of his students? What do any of the best professors do to encourage students to achieve remarkable learning results? I and several colleagues from the Searle Center for Teaching Excellence at Northwestern University studied more than 60 professors from various disciplines to try to determine what outstanding teachers do inside and outside their classrooms that might explain their accomplishments. And when we examined in particular how good teachers conduct class, we found that they follow several common principles. Specifically, they: Create a natural critical learning environment. "Natural" because what matters most is for students to tackle questions and tasks that they naturally find of interest, make decisions, defend their choices, sometimes come up short, receive feedback on their efforts, and try again. "Critical" because by thinking critically, students learn to reason from evidence and to examine the quality of their reasoning, to make improvements while thinking, and to ask probing and insightful questions. This is, by far, the most important principle -- the one on which all others are based and which commands the greatest explanation. Some teachers create a natural critical learning environment within lectures; others, with discussions; and still others, with case studies, role-playing, fieldwork, or a variety of other techniques. The method of choice depends on many factors, including the course's objectives, the personalities and cultures of the teachers and students, and the learning habits of both. But an intriguing question or problem is the first of five essential elements that make up a good learning environment. Often the most successful questions are highly provocative: What would you do if you came