Lessons on Teaching and Learning: Applying the Legacy of Lee Shulman to Our Practice

On December 30, 2024, the world of education lost a giant when Lee Shulman passed away. A longtime professor of educational psychology at Michigan State University and Stanford University, and President Emeritus of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Lee’s work on the scholarship of teaching and learning, his contributions to the field of pedagogical content knowledge, and so much else makes him one of the most important educational thinkers of our time.
Lee’s work is of vital importance today because, at its heart, it reflects optimism. The power of good teaching, the learning it leads to, and the transformative impact it has on our students, inspires so many of us to keep doing what we are doing, even in times of challenge within higher ed. Lee was a fierce advocate for the role of teaching in the academy, something that resonates with so many of us at EMU.
This session featured people who knew Lee, and learned so much from him, who talked about the impact his work has had on higher education, and on what we can learn from Lee’s writings and from his example. We shared fun stories, but most importantly, we shared lessons on how his example can motivate all of us. We explored how the concepts he taught us might be applied to our everyday work.
Program Participants
- Jeffrey L. Bernstein, Professor of Political Science and Director, Bruce K. Nelson Faculty Development Center
- Sarah M. Ginsberg, Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders and Faculty Associate Director, Bruce K. Nelson Faculty Development Center
- Deborah Loewenberg Ball, Jessie Jean Storey-Fry Distinguished University Professor of Education and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, Marsal Family School of Education, University of Michigan
Literature from Lee Shulman
Click the tabs below to learn more about the pieces published by Lee Shulman. All books can be found at the FDC library.
Teaching as Community Property
The Wisdom of Practice
Issues in Education Research
"Inventing the Future" in Opening Lines

Teaching as Community Property: Essays on Higher Education by Lee S. Shulman
For almost two decades, acclaimed education scholar and current president of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Lee S. Shulman has been bringing uncommon wit, passion, and vision to issues of teaching and learning in higher education. Teaching as Community Property brings together a brilliant collection of Shulman's papers and presentations since 1987, giving readers a unique window into his ideas and proposals for the improvement of teaching and learning in higher education. What emerges is a vision of Shulman's overarching agenda--to improve the quality of teaching for all students by making teaching a more respected dimension of all the disciplines and professional fields. (Retrieved from Amazon)

The Wisdom of Practice: Essays on Teaching, Learning, and Learning to Teach by Lee S. Shulman, Suzanne M. Wilson, and Pat Hutchings
What do teachers need to know in order to teach well? How important is the depth and quality of teachers' content knowledge as a critical aspect of their ability to teach? How can teachers best be educated, and how can we assess their accomplishments as teachers? In what ways is the professional preparation of teachers comparable to the preparation of physicians and other members of learned professions? What kinds of educational research can provide deeper understanding of teaching, learning, and the reform of education? These are just some of the many questions answered in this landmark collection of Lee Shulman's best work. A pioneer in the field of teaching and teacher research, Shulman's work and thinking have long influenced teachers and researchers. But while Shulman is one of the most widely cited scholars in education, his writings have been scattered among a variety of books and journalsuntil now.
The Wisdom of Practice at last makes Shulman's major works on K-12 education and teacher education available in one volume. His interests in teaching of all sortsin K-12 schools, in teacher education, in graduate programs for educational researchers, in liberal educationhave been diverse. The essays included touch on such wide-ranging topics as the psychology of school subjects, medical problem solving, teacher knowledge, performance assessment, teaching in higher education, the scholarship of teaching and learning, the characteristics and pedagogies of the professions, the role of cases in professional education and research, and the character of relevant and rigorous educational research. (Retrieved from Amazon)

Issues in Education Research: Problems and Possibilities by Ellen Condliffe Lagemann and Lee S. Shulman
It has been a decade since the National Academy of Education lastissued a review of education research. This new volume arrives at acritical time for our nation's schools. More than twenty prominentscholars provide an overview of the tensions, dilemmas, issues, andpossibilities that currently characterize education research. Theyexamine the state of education research, discuss how it is changingand where it needs to go, and reveal how the results ofresearch--whether good or bad--have become key drivers ofeducational policy and practice. This revelation raises importantquestions about standards for sound research and training forfuture researchers. Issues in Education Research is a valuablereference for the more than 40,000 college faculty members whostudy schooling and prepare tomorrow's teachers. (Retrieved from Amazon)
"Inventing the Future" in Opening Lines: Approaches to the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning by Pat Hutchings and Lee S. Shulman
This publication features reports by eight Carnegie Scholars who are working to develop a scholarship of teaching and learning that will advance the profession of teaching and improve student learning. Following the Introduction, "Approaching the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning" (Pat Hutchings), the papers are: "Investigating Student Learning in a Problem-Based Psychology Course" (William Cerbin); "Resilient Students, Resilient Communities" (Donna Killian Duffy); "Looking through a Different Lens: Inquiry into a Team-Taught Course" (Cynthia V. Fukami); "A Chemical Mixture of Methods" (Dennis Jacobs); "For Better or Worse? The Marriage of Web and Classroom" (T. Mills Kelly); "Students' Perspectives on Interdisciplinary Learning" (Sherry Linkon); "A Case Study of Theory, Voice, Pedagogy, and Joy" (Mona Taylor Phillips); "Difficulty: The Great Educational Divide" (Mariolina Rizzi Salvatori); and a Conclusion: "Inventing the Future" (Lee S. Shulman). (Papers contain references.) (SM)