The latest, "Microwriting for Better Learning and Happier Teaching," published in the journal AAPT Studies in Pedagogy, discusses short writing assignments that Marcus has developed at Hamilton for both writing intensive courses and non-WI courses. The core idea is that writing philosophical essays involves a variety of simple techniques, like focusing on a thesis, illustrating and testing abstract claims with original concrete examples, asking carefully considered questions, framing those questions precisely, and engaging directly with philosophers, even those who have been dead for centuries.
Without training in these skills, philosophy students can struggle to write successful essays. So, instead of unfairly assigning longer work that assumes skills that many students have not been taught, in his lower level classes, Marcus started assigning shorter work that teaches students to use these skills. Then, when he assigns longer work later in the term, students understand his expectations, some standards of good philosophy, and have greater likelihood of meeting them.
In "A Jigsaw Lesson for Symbolic Logic," published in The Art of Teaching Philosophy: Reflective Values and Concrete Practices, (London: Bloomsbury, 2024), Marcus shows how to use a cooperative learning structure called a jigsaw in philosophy classes, specifically in Logic, using a lesson that he developed at Hamilton for Phil 240. Jigsaw lessons were initially developed in the 1970s by Elliot Aronson for elementary schools in the wake of desegregation. They are perfectly adaptable for active learning in college classrooms, fostering collaboration and interdependency. The essay presents an example of a jigsaw lesson for translation using the identity predicate in first-order logic, with sample materials.
Also published in The Art of Teaching Philosophy was "When Conversation Goes Wrong: Managing Student Errors in the Philosophy Classroom." Marcus and former Truax Post-Doc Alessandro Moscarítolo Palacio describe the difficulties that arise in dealing with errors in philosophy classrooms where student learning and autonomy are prioritized, and develop two models for managing student errors.
In the philosophical expertise model, instructors are responsible for maximizing the number of true or reasonable claims made in a classroom, including correcting student errors. In the student empowerment model, instructors should be wary of any kind of correction, since more importance is accorded to student autonomy. The authors consider a variety of positions between these polar extremes, depending on the nature of the error, the structure of the class, and the instructor’s pedagogical goals.
