Many students are comfortable as passive, receptive learners. They want "just the facts," and more precisely just those facts which they require to pass the exam. However, simply stuffing students' heads with facts may not be the most efficient use of class time _ students will likely forget many of the facts, and you won't be able to cover all the information anyway. With this in mind, would it not be advisable to spend some class time encouraging your students to obtain and practise the thinking skills they need to uncover and discover the rest of the facts? In other words, part of your role as a Teaching Assistant is to help your students think for themselves.

Most disciplines have key concepts and ideas which are fundamental (McPeck, 1981); they are the basic foundations of the discipline, and the remaining knowledge and understanding derives from them. Students must learn these concepts. It is equally important, too, that your students learn more than that…

The thinking skills which are prized in the disciplines are also valued in society in general: investigation, interpretation, evaluation, anticipation, extrapolation, problem solving, decision making, creative thinking. In your classes you should encou rage your students to obtain and practice these skills.