IF YOU WANT TO:
Focusing your lecture on a few main points and omitting unnecessary exceptions, complexities or details.
"The key to explaining clearly," says one economics professor, "is to limit the amount of material covered by a single lecture. The critical error made by many faculty members is trying to include too much by a factor of six.
"I generally focus on three main points and repeat these in various ways throughout my lecture. Beginning undergraduates do not need to be exposed to the intricacies and complexities of a discipline; indeed, introducing them to these will only confuse them. Introductory course are best taught by focusing on the fundamentals, using generalizations, and avoiding too many exceptions to the rule."
A history professor concurs. "I tell undergraduates, `Here is what I think you can say is true, despite all the past and current debates of historians.' I don't go into those debates because they are complex and undergraduates are not sophisticated enough about historiography to appreciate them."
Limitations on Use of Suggestion
Copyright 1983 by the Regents of the University of California