Educating for Seapower - Marine Corps Association
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Ideas & Issues (Learning, Training and Education )
Educating for
Seapower
Developing intellectual agility through active learning
by Dr. Mie Augier & Maj Sean F.X. Barrett
strides toward revamping various train-
“There is more to sustaining a competitive advantage ing and education curricula, any endur-
ing or lasting change is going to require
than acquiring hardware; we must gain and sustain careful attention over a long period of
time as well as a firm understanding
an intellectual overmatch as well.” 1 of the intellectual foundations and
—Joint Chiefs of Staff instructional designs needed to make
this paradigmatic change possible.7 It
T
he Education for Seapower to suppress it.5 In fact, it is sobering is in this spirit that we write this article.
(E4S) study, former Secre- how closely Gen David H. Berger’s CPG In previous articles, we have tried to
tary of the Navy Richard V. reflects Gen Al Gray’s initial guidance explain some of the themes and intel-
Spencer’s subsequent decision concerning the development of a “Con- lectual emphases in E4S and the CPG,
memo laying out a sweeping reform of cept for Education” over thirty years including leadership aspects useful
naval education, the establishment of ago—suggesting that despite a lot of in the post-industrial era (“Leader-
the Navy’s new Director of Warfighter effort from a lot of people, we still have ship for Seapower,” MCG, Dec2019)
Development office, and the Com- not nudged our training and education and the learning foundations for such
mandant’s Planning Guidance (CPG) system far enough beyond the industrial skills (“Learning for Seapower,” MCG,
all emphasize the importance of think- era paradigm, or else at some point we Nov2020). Here, we focus on explain-
ing and education to enhancing our lost our way. 6 ing some of the foundations and dimen-
warfighting capabilities. Following on sions of intellectual agility and highlight
the heels of the 2018 National Defense why training and education institutions
Strategy’s diagnosis that professional
military education (PME) has “stag-
The E4S strategy is al- must leverage active learning approaches
to help build and shape the intellectual
nated,”2 these strategic documents and ready under increasing agility of our warfighters. The Joint
actions reflect a broad understanding Chiefs of Staff underscore the impor-
that training and education must move scrutiny ... tance of agility and transforming leader
beyond an industrial era paradigm in development and PME: “Our country
order to enhance the intellectual agility requires warfighting leaders and staff of-
and preparedness of our warfighters. People and organizations usually do ficers capable of waging war and leading
However, despite this level of under- not embrace change easily, and various in a dynamic, globally integrated envi-
standing, organizational transformation kinds of individual, organizational, and ronment.”8 Our observations are guided
is not going to be easy. It never is. The bureaucratic inertias run deep. Thus, by a steadfast belief in the maneuver
E4S strategy is already under increas- even though Training & Education philosophy, which embraces the criti-
ing scrutiny, and the Department of Command is making encouraging cality of developing agile minds (and
the Navy eliminated the expansion in
funding for implementing the strategy
from its Fiscal Year 2022 budget re- >Dr. Augier is a Professor in the Graduate School of Defense Management, and
quest.3 Some earlier landmark reports Defense Analysis Department, at NPS. She is a founding member of the Naval
Warfare Studies Institute and is interested in strategy, organizations, leadership,
that influenced education in remarkable
innovation, and how to educate strategic thinkers and learning leaders.
ways also faced pushback, delays, and
misunderstandings along the way.4 Even >>Maj Barrett, PhD is an 0202 currently serving at HQMC Intelligence Division.
the Knox-Pye-King Board report, which He has previously deployed in support of Operations IRAQI FREEDOM , ENDURING
helped inspire E4S, was at first thought FREEDOM, ENDURING FREEDOM-PHILIPPINES, and INHERENT RESOLVE .
impractical, and opponents attempted
Marine Corps Gazette • July 2021 www.mca-marines.org/gazette WE41Ideas & Issues (Learning, Training and Education )
institutions) and empowering our war‑ teaching materials but also how we or- plines and domains of knowledge but
fighters to make decisions in situations ganize and lead these institutions and also the methodologies we use. Training
marked by stress and ambiguity, as well the instructional approaches we employ. for specific tools and techniques might
as the understanding we can do so by Identifying a few relevant foundations have proven adequate to meet the de-
learning some valuable lessons from our and dimensions relating to intellectual mands of the industrial era. However,
own history. agility and preparedness is thus prudent a shift from repetitive, well-structured
before discussing their implications for problems to ambiguity, uncertainty, and
training and education. ill-structured problems requires a cor-
Broadening minds. Given today’s “in- responding increase in the imagination,
“The 21st Century de- creasingly complex global security envi- innovativeness, and critical thinking
ronment,”11 developing leaders who can abilities of our leaders. They must be
mands American of- think through ambiguous and chang- able to frame, think through, under-
ficers be far better ing situations, anticipate and adapt to stand, and solve problems featuring an
change, and proactively problem solve increasing number of interdependencies.
educated and more ca- and innovate thus takes on added im- Technology maintains the allure of
pable of directing and portance.12 Leaders with agile, active,
and broad minds can apply knowledge
a “quick fix,” but it certainly is not a
long-term solution, as particular tools
integrating the Nation’s to new and unforeseen situations and can quickly become outdated and lead
transfer knowledge between seemingly to a myopic view of (and solutions for)
military instrument.” 9 disparate domains. This, however, ne- complex problems.14 Thinking, rather
—Joint Chiefs of Staff cessitates a shift from teaching students than tools or technology, remains the
what to think to how to think. central premise of maneuver warfare.
Col Mike Wyly, for example, rewrote Gen Gray explains,
the entire curriculum at Amphibious [M]aneuver warfare isn’t so much a
Educating for Agility and Lifelong Warfare School after being named Head function of how you are equipped as it
Learning: A Few Ideas of Tactics in 1979 in order to teach stu- is a function of how you think. We ...
The shift from the industrial era to dents how to make decisions rather than concentrate on making the maximum
the post-industrial era has changed the methodical decision-making processes use of the tools that are at our disposal
types of problems typically encountered, they would never use in real war. He rather than waiting for wish-list tech-
the most effective ways to organize, and notes the implication for teachers: “His nologies to solve our problems.15
the types of skills useful for future lead-
ers. Some of the most important fea-
tures of the post-industrial era include
dynamics, change, and temporality as A major goal of teaching problem solving and critical
well as the corresponding need to shift thinking should be preparing the student for lifelong
away from static approaches and instead
place a greater emphasis on educating learning by inculcating the skills of self-instruction.
for thinking and judgment. This senti-
ment is rooted in Marine Corps history,
notably during the maneuver warfare mission ... is to teach students to think, Concerning training and education in
movement under the strategic leadership to exercise judgment. It is not to teach particular, this means we need to be
of Gen Gray, who stressed, “Above all a repertoire of attacks or formulistic aware of the potential pitfalls of edu-
else we try to orient our training upon procedures.” In fact, the objective of cators (implicitly or explicitly) provid-
the cultivation of attitude that the only any course or block of instruction is ing their students increasingly stronger
thing certain on the battlefield will be “not about imparting knowledge. It is hammers to use on increasingly small
the uncertain—the unexpected.” Lead- about teaching judgment. There are no nails that are no longer relevant in the
ers, according to Gray, must be able rules or formulas.”13 Focusing on help- post-industrial era.
to think, be empowered to seize and ing leaders think abstractly and make Educating for lifelong learning vs.
maintain the initiative, and “view un- connections across a range of problems checking the box on a requirement. A ma-
certainty as an advantage to be capital- is more conducive to developing judg- jor goal of teaching problem solving and
ized upon, rather than a disadvantage ment than teaching a tool that is limited critical thinking should be preparing
that inhibits their options.”10 to a particular field or already identified the student for lifelong learning by in-
Cultivating intellectual agility to problem. culcating the skills of self-instruction.16
take advantage of uncertainty is an es- Beyond hammers and nails. The prev- This is important because, as FMFM 1
pecially important topic for our train- alence of dynamics, change, and tem- reminds us, “every Marine has a basic
ing and education institutions, since porality demands integrative, pluralistic responsibility to study the profession of
it not only encompasses curricula and approaches not only concerning disci- arms on his own. ... This is particularly
WE42 www.mca-marines.org/gazette Marine Corps Gazette • July 2021true among officers; after all, an of- reflectively, and understand the larger and ill-structured problems demand
ficer’s principal weapon is his mind.”17 context in which decisions were made. more intuition and judgment as well
Unfortunately, as the CPG observes, These skills are critical to simulating as the intellectual agility to recognize
the current training and education the experiences of others and making conditions and situational cues that
paradigm is based on passive learning, our minds more agile and able to adapt are analogous to previous experiences
rote memorization, and regurgitation, to new or different situations.23 and link these insights to appropriate
which the philosopher and educator
Mortimer Adler identifies as the doctri-
nal approach.18 The doctrinal approach
is based on teachers imparting as much “What the student gains from the case study is not a
truth as possible (and no errors) into
students, whereas the goal of a more dia-
formula for achieving success, but a look at human
lectical approach is the pursuit of truth behavior in combat, an understanding of the many
and students learning how to think by
identifying inconsistencies and contra- variables involved, an appreciation of which vari-
dictions across different authors and ables weigh more under different circumstances, and
ideas and then determining which are
correct.19 The dialectical approach, ac- some additions to his ‘bag of tricks’ for application in
cording to Adler, more readily prepares real war.” 24
students for continued learning after (or
between) periods of formal training and —Col Mike Wyly
education by cultivating learning skills,
an understanding of ideas, and the
motivation to seek an even greater un- “The focus of effort [of PME] should be teaching
derstanding of these same ideas. What
is understood becomes “habit of the through doing, through case studies, historical and
intellect” and is not readily forgotten, present-day, real and hypothetical, presented in war
in contrast to items merely committed
(and then soon lost) to memory.20 games, map exercises, sand table exercises, free-
Nurturing these skills is particularly play, force-on-force ‘three day wars’ and the like.” 25
relevant to reading and the self-study
of history and war, which Col Wyly —Gen Gray
argues are requirements for develop-
ing military judgment. According to
Wyly, leaders must “learn to analyze Active Learning Approaches actions. Leaders must be able to quickly
and make connections between battles The CPG directs us to change our reflect on similarities and differences
of the past and battles of the future, current training and education para- and then translate and adapt the anal-
and to conceptualize in order to deal digm to become more “focused on ogy to the current situation.29 Thus,
with the unknown.”21 LtGen Paul K. active, student-centered learning.”26 training and education must be focused
Van Riper, the first president of Marine The current paradigm is based on what on active practice in problem solving,
Corps University, similarly suggests, Herb Simon refers to as “the fallacy increasing meaningful experiences, and
[History] does though provide a rich of rote memorization.” Simon notes, making decisions rather than simply
context for understanding the terrible “Rote memorization, as we know all remembering.30
phenomenon that was, is, and will re- too well, produces the ability to repeat Military organizations, however, are
main war. The vicarious experiences back memorized material but not the limited in their ability to create realistic
provided through study of the past en- ability to use it in solving problems.”27 training scenarios that replicate actual
able practitioners to see familiar pat- Most decisions in battle are decisions conditions in war,31 forcing them to
terns of activity and to develop more of encounter that demand the ability to grapple with the challenge of “learning
quickly potential solutions to tactical think quickly under the twin pressures from samples of one or fewer.”32 Indi-
and operational problems.22 of limited time and limited information vidual experience can be enhanced by
Thus, studying history must go beyond as opposed to methodical set pieces that active, scenario-based learning methods
learning who won and who lost or iden- afford plenty of time to plan and the that put students in complicated, un-
tifying “lessons” or “recipes” for success ability to make decisions at a time of the foreseen scenarios demanding decisions
for known problems. Active learning individual or organization’s choosing.28 on short timelines.33 Wyly cautions that
approaches are a critical element to ef- While some of these decisions can be if the teacher provides the student as
fectuating lifelong learning and foster- fairly routine and executed by following much information as the student feels
ing the ability to read critically, think standard operating procedures, novel he needs, “then you have given him
Marine Corps Gazette • July 2021 www.mca-marines.org/gazette WE43Ideas & Issues (Learning, Training and Education )
too much. Combat decision making is a cooperative art, our instructors and rule discovery, or why certain solutions
is decision making with incomplete faculty might also need to be retooled are being rewarded.44
information.”34 These active learning so they are capable of working with For knowledge to be flexible across
methods include historical case stud- students and adapting to their capa- different (and in new) situations and
ies, sand table or map exercises, tactical bilities.39 Lastly, we must not lose sight domains, it must be learned under vary-
decision games, terrain walks, or tactical that teachers, first and foremost, must ing conditions and in periods of mixed
exercises without troops. Basing these be learners, and their instruction should rather than blocked instruction.45 Doug
scenarios on actual historical events require genuine intellectual activity on Rohrer and Kelli Taylor find that math
keeps the exercises rooted in reality their part and not simply “professing” students who practice problems blocked
and enables the student to study hu- material that students memorize.40 by type perform worse than those that
man behavior, which Wyly notes is “the They (and our training and educa- practice a mixed sample of problems
essence of the determinant in battle,” tion institutions) must be comfortable covering multiple previous lessons.46
rather than simply theorizing.35 teaching without set lesson plans and Research focused on naval air defense
Active learning is based on the idea be flexible enough to follow the twists simulations similarly found that prac-
that learning has to occur in—and and turns discussions might take. tice variability enhances the transfer-
transform—the minds of students.36 ability of training.47 Lastly, excessive
Tools of passive learning techniques like hint-giving (e.g., your proverbial “foot
checklist rubrics and prescription solu- “We must cease view- stompers”) may improve immediate
tions for exams and papers are impedi- performance, but it undermines long-
ments to this kind of transformation. ing PME as something term progress. Training without hints
Teachers should also be cautious about
tailoring discussions and providing
less strenuous and less is slower and more error-ridden, but it is
more conducive to long-term learning,
prompts, templates, or examples (e.g., of challenging than other since attempts at information retrieval
papers or projects) from previous classes prime the brain for subsequent learn-
that limit the creativity of students and
tours of service, and ing.48
“guide” them to a certain response or seek to make it as com- As we proceed in our quest to en-
conceptualization. For example, Col hance the intellectual agility and pre-
Wyly recommends that instead of se- petitive and rewarding paredness of our warfighters, we must
lecting an historical example to teach as possible.” 41 be willing to adapt all our educational
a given concept of maneuver warfare, efforts and adopt more active learning
the teacher should instead assign a read- —CPG approaches that nurture enthusiasm and
ing and then ask the students what they an appetite for lifelong learning. We
discovered from the operation.37 Rapid, have discussed some of the fundamental
logical decision making should be the A Few Additional Trends in Education changes we need to make concerning
goal, not “right” answers or following Relevant to E4S and an Invitation to how we teach. Implementing them,
prescribed procedures. the Pain of Learning however, will require equally funda-
Refocusing towards more active, In addition to incorporating active mental changes in how we administer.
transformational learning as opposed learning methods, there are additional Educational progress oftentimes is not
to the industrial era’s emphasis on me- insights from, and trends in, civilian quantitatively measurable, and our
thodical teaching requires a significant education that might be relevant to organizations’ traditional bureaucratic
amount of change on our instructors’ transitioning to a post-industrial era desire to control, measure, and levy
and faculties’ part, too. However, de- training and education paradigm.42 additional requirements can tend to
spite the enormous role instructors and David Epstein identifies chunking, in- dampen enthusiasm. At a recent ap-
faculty play in fostering an effective terleaving, and testing as three impor- pearance at the Brookings Institute,
learning environment, they receive com- tant considerations in developing broad Gen Berger advised, “If you are com-
parably little attention in discussions of problem-solving capabilities. Chunking fortable with the rate of change now,
training and education. It is seemingly refers to the ability of experts to group you are moving too slow.”49 Change of
assumed they are able (and willing) to multiple data points into smaller, more course is never easy, but it is high time
adapt to any new teaching methodol- meaningful “chunks” based on pattern we embrace it so that we have the lead-
ogy, which, at best, takes some time. recognition derived from experience.43 ers we need to compete and sustain our
For example, even though active learn- Relying too heavily on experience, how- competitive advantage.
ing has been recognized as a superior ever, can lead to deleterious results if too
method of classroom instruction, most much emphasis is placed on identifying
college science, technology, engineer- the first familiar solution available. In Notes
ing, and mathematics instructors still fact, successful reinforcement and re- 1. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Developing Today’s Joint
rely on traditional teaching methods inforced pretraining both undermine Officers for Tomorrow’s Ways of War: The Joint
(i.e., passive lectures).38 Since teaching one’s ability to comprehend subsequent Chiefs of Staff Vision and Guidance for Profes-
WE44 www.mca-marines.org/gazette Marine Corps Gazette • July 2021sional Military Education & Talent Management, Thinking through and framing “wicked” and eds. Williamson Murray and Richard Hart Sin-
(Washington, DC: 2020). ill-structured situations is also essential. nreich, (New York, NY: Cambridge University
Press, 2006).
2. Department of Defense, Summary of the 2018 13. Michael Duncan Wyly, “Teaching Maneu-
National Defense Strategy of the United States ver Warfare,” in Maneuver Warfare: An An- 23. For more on improving reading skills, see
of America: Sharpening the American Military’s thology, eds. Richard D. Hooker and John R. William F. Mullen, III, “Advanced Reading
Competitive Edge, (Washington, DC: 2018). Galvin, (New York, NY: Presidio Press, 1993). Skills: Techniques to Getting Started,” Marine
Corps Gazette Blog, (April 2019), available at
3. Diana Stancy Correll, “Navy Aims to Reduce 14. For example, Nobel Laureate Herb Simon https://mca-marines.org.
End Strength, Cut Higher Education Funding cautioned, “What we must avoid above all is
in New Budget Request,” Navy Times, (May designing technologically sophisticated ham- 24. “Teaching Maneuver Warfare.”
2021), available at https://www.navytimes.com. mers and then wandering around to find nails
that we can hit with them.” Herbert A. Simon, 25. “Training and Education.”
4. For example, see the Flexner Report, or Bul- “What We Know About Learning,” Journal
letin Number Four, from the Carnegie Foun- of Engineering Education, (Washington, DC: 26. 38th Commandant’s Planning Guidance.
dation for the Advancement of Teaching, and American Society for Engineering Education, The Joint Chiefs subsequently reiterated the
Gordon and Howell’s Higher Education for October 1998). importance of active and experiential learning
Business, which was financed by the Ford to developing critical thinking skills. See also
Foundation. Augier and March discuss both 15. “Tactics and Theory of Maneuver Warfare.” Developing Today’s Joint Officers.
reports, their effects on the medical and busi-
ness communities, respectively, and on educa- 16. Herbert A. Simon, “Problem Solving and 27. “Problem Solving and Education.”
tion and society more broadly, as well as the Education,” in Issues in Teaching and Research,
links between them. Mie Augier and James eds. D.T. Tuma and F. Reif, (Hillsdale, NJ: Law- 28. Herbert A. Simon, “Background of Decision
G. March, The Roots, Rituals, and Rhetorics of rence Erlbaum Associates, 1980). Adler suggests Making,” Naval War College Review, (Newport,
Change: North American Business Schools After some of these include critical reading, attentive RI: Naval War College, 1957).
the Second World War, (Stanford, CA: Stanford listening, precise speech, and reflective thought.
University Press, 2011). Mortimer J. Adler, Reforming Education: The 29. Ibid; “Problem Solving and Education,”
Opening of the American Mind, (New York, NY: and; Fernand Gobet, “Chunking Models of
5. David Kohnen, “Charting a New Course: Collier Books, 1977). Expertise: Implications for Education,” Applied
The Knox-Pye-King Board and Naval Profes- Cognitive Psychology, (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley,
sional Education, 1919–1923,” Naval War Col- 17. Headquarters Marine Corps, FMFM 1, March 2005); Daniella Laureiro-Martínez
lege Review, (Newport, RI: Naval War College, Warfighting, ( Washington, DC: 1989). and Stefano Brusoni, “Cognitive Flexibility and
June 2018). Adaptive Decision-Making: Evidence From a
18. Gen David H. Berger, 38th Commandant’s Laboratory Study of Expert Decision Makers,”
6. Commandant of the Marine Corps to Com- Planning Guidance, (Washington, DC: July Strategic Management Journal, (Hoboken, NJ:
mand General, Marine Corps Combat Develop- 2019). Our use of Adler is no coincidence, as Wiley, April 2018); and David Epstein, Range:
ment Command, “Training and Education,” his thoughts on education influenced those of Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World,
October 10, 1988, located in the Alfred M. Gray Col Wyly and Gen Gray. (New York, NY: Riverhead Books, 2019). Nobel
Collection, Box List Part 2, Box 6, Folder 12, Laureate Daniel Kahneman and Gary Klein re-
Brigadier General Edwin H. Simmons Center 19. Reforming Education. Adler explains, “The fer to experts’ ability to draw upon a “repertoire
for Marine Corps History, Quantico, VA. doctrinal teaching of disciples enables them of patterns” to identify, evaluate, and modify
to learn what the master thinks. The dialecti- (or discard and move to the next one) courses
7. Unfortunately, Education for Seapower Strat- cal teaching of students enables them to think of action as the “recognition-primed decision
egy 2020 lacks explicit discussion of such intel- for themselves. I would go further and say the strategy.” This takes advantage of the experts’
lectual foundations and designs and, one could doctrinal method indoctrinates, and only the tacit knowledge. Daniel Kahneman and Gary
argue, instead reads a bit more like a “Plan of dialectical method teaches.” Klein, “Conditions for Intuitive Expertise: A
Actions & Milestones” than a strategy. Failure to Disagree,” American Psychologist,
20. Ibid. Adler further argues that teaching (Washington, DC: American Psychological
8. Developing Today’s Joint Officers for Tomor- should be primarily inductive and dialectical, Association, September 2009).
row’s Ways of War. and lectures and textbooks should be frowned
upon, since teaching by the dialectical approach, 30. “Problem Solving and Education”; “Condi-
9. Ibid. or Socratic Method, which puts questions before tions for Intuitive Expertise”; and Sae Schatz, et
answers, “is the only way to avoid the substitu- al., “Making Good Instructors Great: USMC
10. John C. Scharfen, “Tactics and Theory of tion of verbal memory for intellectual habit.” Cognitive Readiness and Instructor Profes-
Maneuver Warfare: Interview with Major Gen- sionalization Initiatives,” (paper, Interservice/
eral Alfred M. Gray, Jr.,” in MCI Course 8014A. 21. “Teaching Maneuver Warfare.” Industry Training, Simulation, and Education
Conference, 2012).
11. Summary of the 2018 National Defense Strat- 22. Paul K. Van Riper, “The Relevance of His-
egy of the United States of America. tory to the Military Profession: An American 31. Williamson Murray, “Thinking About In-
Marine’s View,” in The Past as Prologue: The novation,” Naval War College Review, (Newport,
12. Problem solving, of course, does not mean Importance of History to the Military Profession, RI: Naval War College, Spring 2001).
simply solving known or even existing problems.
Marine Corps Gazette • July 2021 www.mca-marines.org/gazette WE45Ideas & Issues (Learning, Training and Education )
32. James G. March, L.S. Sproull, and M. Grigorenko have developed a framework for 46. Doug Rohrer and Kelli Taylor, “The
Tamuz, “Learning From Samples of One Or teaching for “successful intelligence,” which al- Shuffling of Mathematics Problems Improves
Fewer,” Quality and Safety in Health Care, ternates the use of multiple teaching styles (e.g., Learning,” Instructional Science, (New York,
(London: BMJ, 2003). March, Sproull, and analytical, creative, and practical teaching and NY: Springer, 2007). Rohrer and Taylor also
Tamuz observe how organizations can overcome assessment). Doing so helps students identify find that spacing practice problems across mul-
this conundrum: “Organizations expand their their strengths and correct or compensate for tiple sessions is superior to loading them into
comprehension of history by making experience weaknesses. Students taught in this manner a single session.
rich, by considering multiple interpretations of outperform students taught using traditional
experience, by using experience to discover and methods (even on tests based on purely factual 47. Courtney L. Holladay and Miguel Qui-
modify their preferences, and by simulating memory), and even more importantly, it con- ñones, “Practice Variability and Transfer of
near-events and hypothetical histories.” Here, nects with more students’ abilities, thus fostering Training: The Role of Self-Efficacy Generality,”
we focus on facilitating individual learning. more intrinsic motivation. Unfortunately, most Journal of Applied Psychology, (Washington, DC:
teachers are reluctant to engage in this type of American Psychological Association, January
33. Similarly, Simon notes that people do not balanced teaching because they have identified 2004). Richland, et al. also find that interleaving
learn to ride bikes by having the principles ex- that they excel at one over the others and also sets of information rather than teaching them
plained to them, but rather by actually going do not want to change or deviate from their in blocks leads to a greater ability to generalize
out and riding them. “Problem Solving and already prepared lectures. Robert J. Sternberg across contexts. Bjork and Bjork find similar
Education.” and Elena L. Grigorenko, “Teaching for Suc- results and also find that changing the environ-
cessful Intelligence: Principles, Procedures, and mental context when material is restudied and
34. “Teaching Maneuver Warfare.” Wyly sug- Practices,” Journal for the Education of the Gifted, increasing the period between when something
gests that determining whether the student is (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publishing 2003). is studied and tested also prove beneficial to
developing judgment can be done by assessing long-term learning and knowledge transfer-
the rationale for his decision. This, however, 39. “Teaching for Successful Intelligence.” ability. Lindsey E. Richland, Robert A. Bjork,
is only discussed after the student commits to Teachers must also be able to present “perceptual Jason R. Finley, and Marcia C. Linn, “Linking
a decision and the teacher tests the strength of chunks,” or components of curriculum, in the Cognitive Science to Education: Generation
his conviction. correct size and level of difficulty, as well as in and Interleaving Effects,” Proceedings of the
the correct order, to help students digest them Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Soci-
35. Ibid. and more readily be able to retrieve them at a ety, (2005), available at https://escholarship.
later date. See “Chunking Models of Expertise.” org/; and Robert A. Bjork and Elizabeth L.
36. Simon explains, “You can do anything you Bjork, “Forgetting As the Friend of Learning:
like in the classroom or elsewhere—you can 40. Reforming Education. Implications for Teaching and Self-Regulating
stand on your head—it doesn’t make a whit of Learning,” Advances in Physiology, (Amsterdam:
difference unless it causes a change in behav- 41. 38th Commandant’s Planning Guidance. Elsevier, 2019).
ior of your students. Learning takes place in
the minds of students and nowhere else, and 42. In addition to the ones mentioned here, 48. Range.
the effectiveness of teachers lies in what they recent trends in civilian higher education feature
can induce students to do.” Herbert A. Simon, a variety of certificate and short courses and 49. Brookings Institute, “The Marine Corps
“What We Know About Learning,” Journal executive and online programs. In short, civilian and the Future of Warfare,” YouTube video,
of Engineering Education, (Washington, DC: institutions have developed a plethora of options 1:01:02, (May 2021), available at https://www.
American Society for Engineering Education, adaptable to fit the work schedules, lifestyle youtube.com.
October 1998). Adler adds that “the principal demands, and needs of their potential clientele.
cause of learning is activity on the part of the This also provides the student a variety of op-
learner engaged in the process of discovery; tions for identifying the learning approaches
when instruction occurs, the teacher is at best that work best for him or her. Students can
only an instrumental cause operating to guide experiment, so they can find the best subject
or facilitate the process of discovery on the part material and program “match,” which is most
of the learner.” See also Reforming Education. likely to generate and maintain enthusiasm for
a lifetime of learning.
37. “Teaching Maneuver Warfare.” Wyly further
explains, “If we are indeed interested in teach- 43. Range. For more on chunking, see Her-
ing soldiers and Marines to think, then let’s bert A. Simon, “How Big Is a Chunk,” Science,
not tell them ‘Here is what you are to get out (Washington, DC: American Association for
of studying this battle.’ That equates to ‘Here the Advancement of Science February 1974);
is what I want you to think.’” and “Chunking Models of Expertise.”
38. Louis Deslauriers, Logan S. McCarty, Kelly 44. Barry Schwartz, “Reinforcement-Induced
Miller, Kristina Callaghan, and Greg Kestin, Behavioral Stereotypy: How Not to Teach
“Measuring Actual Learning Versus Feeling People to Discover Rules,” Journal of Experi-
of Learning in Response to Being Actively mental Psychology, (Washington, DC: American
Engaged in the Classroom,” Proceedings of the Psychological Association1982).
National Academy of Sciences of the United States
of America, (August 2019), available at https:// 45. Range.
www.pnas.org. Additionally, Sternberg and
WE46 www.mca-marines.org/gazette Marine Corps Gazette • July 2021You can also read
