What the Best Fire Instructors Do (Link)

By Edward A. Tracey

Fire Engineering, April 2021

Research on the best teachers applies to fire service instructors, too, writes Edward A. Tracey.

In 2004, Ken Bain, a professor at New York University, wrote a book on effective college teaching, What the Best College Teachers Do. The “best” teachers contribute to meaningful learning; they’re not just the ones who students simply liked the most or who gave easy As. Successful teaching is “not if students can pass our examinations but whether their education has a sustained, substantial and positive influence on the way they think, act and feel.”1 Bain’s research focused on 100 teachers with whom most students were highly satisfied with the teaching and inspired to continue learning even after the class ended. Although this influence and its effect are difficult to measure, it means that intellectually and educationally, the teacher and the course hit the mark for the student.