The Rice Center has copies of many popular and helpful books on teaching. Stop by the Center to browse, borrow, or even keep a copy of a book you are interested in. We are happy to recommend a specific book based on your interests. If you would like to form a reading group with colleagues, we can provide you and your group with books. Contact a member of the Rice Center staff with questions or ideas.
New to reading books on teaching and learning?
These five books are highly recommended and might be a good place to start:
- The New College Classroom by Cathy N. Davidson and Christina Katopodis
- Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning, 2nd Ed. by James M. Lang
- Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Reedier III, and Mark A McDaniel
- Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom by Kelly A. Hogan and Viji Sathy
- What the Best College Teachers Do by Ken Bain
All of these books, and the books below, are housed in the Rice Center library and are available to browse or borrow:
Comprehensive books on teaching and learning
- What the Best College Teachers Do by Ken Bain
- What the Best College Students Do by Ken Bain
- The New College Classroom by Cathy N. Davidson and Christina Katopodis
- Teaching the Literature Survey Course: New Strategies for College Faculty by Gwynn Dujardin, James M. Lang, and John A. Staunton
- Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto by Kevin M. Gannon
- Scientific Teaching by Jo Handelsman, Sarah Miller, and Christine Pfund
- Designing a Motivational Syllabus: Creating a Learning Path for Student Engagement by Christine Harrington and Melissa Thomas
- Teaching Matters: A Guide for Graduate Students by Aeron Haynie and Stephanie Spong
- Creating Wicked Students: Designing Courses for a Complex World by Paul Hanstedt
- Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning, 2nd Ed. by James M. Lang
- Geeky Pedagogy: A Guide for Intellectuals, Introverts, and Nerds Who want to Be Effective Teachers by Jessamyn Neuhaus
- Picture a Professor: Interrupting Biases about Faculty and Increasing Student Learning by Jessamyn Neuhaus
- The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life by Parker Palmer
The science of learning
- Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter C. Brown, Henry L. Reedier III, and Mark A McDaniel
- The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion by Sarah Rose Cavanagh
- How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories behind Effect College Teaching by Joshua R. Eyler
- Not Yet… and That’s Okay: How Productive Struggle Fosters Student Learning by Peg Grafwallner
- Distracted: Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It by James M. Lang
- How Learning Works: Eight Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching by Marsha C. Lovett, Michael W. Bridges, Michele DiPietro, Susan A. Ambrose, and Mark K. Norman
- Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate Into Any Course to Improve Student Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation by Saundra Yancy McGuire with Stephanie McGuire
- Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology: Teaching, Learning, and the Science of Memory in a Wired World by Michelle D. Miller
- Getting Started with Team-Based Learning by Jim Sibley and Peter Ostafichuk
- POGIL: An Introduction to Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning edited by Shawn R. Simonson
- Understanding How We Learn: A Visual Guide by Yana Weinstein and Megan Sumeracki with Oliver Caviglioli
Grading and assessments
- Ungrading: Why Rating Students Undermines Learning (and What to Do Instead) by Susan D. Blum
- Grading for Equity: What It Is, Why It Matters, and How It Can Transform Schools and Classrooms by Joe Feldman.
- Meaningful Grading: A Guide for Faculty in the Arts by Natasha Haugnes, Hoag Holmgren, and Martin Springborg
- Specifications Grading: Restoring Rigor, Motivating Students, and Saving Faculty Time by Linda Nelson
- Undoing the Grade: Why We Grade, and How to Stop by Jesse Stommel
Inclusive teaching
- The Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching by Isis Arts-Vega, Flower Darby, Bryan Dewsbury, and Mays Imad
- What Inclusive Instructors Do by Tracie Marcella Addy, Derek Cube, Khadijah A. Mitchell, and Mallory E. SoRette
- Teaching Across Cultural Strengths: A Guide to Balancing Integrated and Individuated Cultural Frameworks in College Teaching by Alicia Fedelina Chávez and Susan Diana Longerbeam
- The Hidden Curriculum: First Generation Students at Legacy Universities by Rachel Gable
- Inclusive Teaching: Strategies for Promoting Equity in the College Classroom by Kelly A. Hogan and Viji Sathy
- Transformative Practices for Minority Student Success: Accomplishments of Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions Edited by Dina C. Maramba and Timothy P. Fong
- Successful STEM Mentoring Initiatives for Underrepresented Students: A Research-Based Guide for Faculty and Administrators by Becky Wai-Ling Packard
- Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education by Thomas J. Tobin and Kirsten T. Behling
- Design for Belonging: How to Build Inclusion and Collaboration in Your Communities by Susie Wise
Universal design for learning, accessibility, and mental health
- Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education by Jay Timothy Dolmage
- Improving Learning and Mental Health in the College Classroom by Robert Eaton, Steven V Hunker, and Bonnie Moon
- Mad at School: Rhetorics of Mental Disability and Academic Life by Margaret Price
- Reach Everyone, Teach Everyone: Universal Design for Learning in Higher Education by Thomas J. Tobin and Kirsten T. Behling
Relationships and emotions
- The Feeling of Teaching: Using Emotions and Relationships to Transform the Classroom by Elizabeth D. Burris
- The Spark of Learning: Energizing the College Classroom with the Science of Emotion by Sarah Rose Cavanagh
- Minding Bodies: How Physical Space, Sensation, and Movement Affect Learning by Susan Hrach
- Connected Teaching: Relationship, Power, and Mattering in Higher Education by Harriet L. Schwartz
Teaching about race and social justice
- Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom by Bell Hooks
- Not Light, But Fire: How to Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom by Matthew R. Kay
- Teaching about Race and Racism in the College Classroom: Notes from a White Professor by Cyndi Kernahan
- Teaching Interculturally: A Framework for Integrating Disciplinary Knowledge and Intercultural Development by Amy Lee
- Unearthing Joy: A Guide to Culturally and Historically Responsive Teaching and Learning by Gholdy Muhammad
- No Study Without Struggle: Confronting Settler Colonialism in Higher Education by Leigh Patel
- Sentipensante (Sensing/Thinking) Pedagogy: Educating for Wholeness, Social Justice, and Liberation by Laura I. Rendón
Inequities in higher education
- Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
- The Privileged Poor: How Elite College are Failing Disadvantaged Students by Anthony Abraham Jack
- Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum
- Black Campus Life: The Worlds Black Students Make at a Historically White Institution by Antar A. Tichavakunda
Teaching with technology
- Intentional Tech: Principles to Guide the Use of Educational Technology in College Teaching by Derek Bruff
- Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes by Flower Darby with James M. Lang
- Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology: Teaching, Learning, and the Science of Memory in a Wired World by Michelle D. Miller
Manuals and workbooks for teachers
- Engaging in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: A Guide to the Process, and How to Develop a Project from Start to Finish by Cathy Bishop-Clark and Beth Dietz-Uhler
- 50 Strategies to Boost Cognitive Engagement: Creating a Thinking Culture in the Classroom by Rebecca Stobaugh
- Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe