Schulman is the director of the Carnegie Council for the Advancement of Teaching.

Schulman describes learning as a dual process: “the interplay of getting something inside the learner out, and something from outside in” (online). He contends that the greatest influence on learning is not what the teacher does but what is already inside the learner. Consequently the teacher should find out what is already inside the learner and then instruct accordingly.

He lists three “pathologies” which can be found among learners:

• Amnesia - knowledge is retained in short term memory but ultimately fades away.
  
• Inertia - Ideas simply lie there, they are not forgotten, they are not wrong, the student understands them, but cannot apply or synthesize them.
  
• Fantasia - Illusory understandings and persistent misconceptions. Students are confident they really understand when they really don’t. (Online.)
  

Schulman contends that the cumulative impact of these things is a time bomb to education.

Schulman is sometimes accused of pessimism in regard to learning. Schulman believed that only the most hardy students could be successful, and that they faced reproach from their peers and opposition from the threatening nature of the academic world. Teacher research seemed to Schulman the best way to overcome this negativism.

Schulman was a member of the National Association of the Sciences, and also published works on the education of medical students. As an educator, Schuman can be associated with the University of Chicago, with Mortimer Adler, Robert Hutchins, and other top-down educators. He has also been associated with the Guggenheim Foundation the American Education Research Association.

Publications

Shulman, L. S., & Kieslar, E. R. (1966). Learning by Discovery: A critical appraisal. Chicago IL.: Rand McNally.