Good teaching is a complex and dynamic blend of science and art, training and apprenticeship. We know a great deal about how people learn, and the teaching methods, strategies, and practices that can best facilitate learning. Yet teaching other people, in numbers small and large, is always relational and improvisational. It remains art as much as science.

Held once each year, the Art of Teaching series aims to bring faculty together as a community of teaching practitioners, to learn from those who excel at their art, and to share the approaches we find to be inspiring and generative. It is also designed to shine a light on all the different venues – the labs, the field sites, the seminar rooms, the studios and the lecture halls – where learning happens at Cornell.

"The Art of Teaching," 2025-2026

The Art of the Lab

• When: Wednesday, February 11, 2025, from 2:00-3:30 p.m., in person. Register for “The Art of the Lab.”

• Description: Lab courses provide special opportunities for students, as well as challenges in creating learning experiences that balance providing both some structure and the freedom to design and experiment. As one of the early institutions in the U.S. to incorporate laboratory-based instruction as a regular part of undergraduate education, Cornell has a long history of providing students with creative approaches to hands-on learning. 

  Today, Cornell instructors continue to innovate and refine lab courses in disciplines across the university. “The Art of the Lab” will highlight effective approaches Cornell faculty are taking to create dynamic learning experiences for students in lab courses at Cornell. 

  Hear about experiences in teaching laboratory courses from faculty panelists:  

  • Shivaun Archer, Senior Lecturer in charge of the Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Instructional Laboratories and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Biomedical Engineering.
  • Sunny Jung, Professor, Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering and Director of Graduate Studies.
  • Cristina Schlesier, Lecturer, Department of Physics.  

  Open to Cornell faculty, staff, postdocs, and graduate students.

Past "Art of Teaching" Events

Inaugural Event: The Art of Discussion

The series kicked off in Spring 2025 with the Art of Discussion. Facilitating discussions is among the most important of all teaching methods because it encourages students to apply, test, and extend their learning in dialogue. Discussion is essentially structured application with immediate feedback, with rapid iteration. It is the place where novices take steps towards speaking with the facility of experts, where students can begin to think of themselves as invited into the discipline.

It is also perhaps the most challenging art for the teacher to master. Facilitating a discussion with all it entails – asking the right questions, listening and responding fully to participants while simultaneously fitting each comment into your overall plan and also thinking of how to connect it to the next step or idea, all while keeping it related to the essential learning of the course but also allowing for the organic emergence of fresh ideas – requires concentration and creativity.

Join us as we hear from Jenny Goldstein (Global Development), Alex Livingston (Government) and Hale Tufan (SIPS) as they share some of the hard-won secrets of this unique art. Then, participate in conversation about how to better master the art of discussion.

Event details

• Open to: Cornell faculty
• Date: Wednesday, February 26th, 2025
• Time: 3:00 - 4:30 p.m.
• Modality: ILR Conference Center in King-Shaw Hall, Room 225

Future Art of Teaching Events

The Art of Teaching series runs annually. Check back in late fall 2026 for more information on next year's event.