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12/10/04 WSJ Article on How Schoolchildren Learn
Posted by John Gunkler on 12/15/2004
In Reply To:12/10/04 WSJ Article on How Schoolchildren Learn Posted by Prof. Dr. Niall Palfreyman on 12/15/2004
Just to stir this pot a little more:
Before stirring, however, I must say that this is not aimed at Niall, whose opinions I always find valuable and interesting. I guess, in this case, I want to respectfully disagree however.
I don't think the essence of teaching is communicating at all. I believe the essence of teaching is facilitating learning. In fact, it's when teachers believe their role is to communicate (implying, "I know something you don't and I'm here to impart it to you") that teachers start down that slippery slope toward disrespect for their students.
Two relatively famous counter-examples to the learning is communicating
view:
1. John Holt, who was brave enough to sit down in the middle of the floor, by himself, and try to play the flute (something he'd never done) -- in order to show his students his own trial-and-error methods of learning, and also (not by the way) to show that he was not a perfected learner in everything.
2. Socrates, who asked questions rather than imparting ("communicating") knowledge directly, in order that his students would think about issues and reach their own conclusions.
And one not at all famous counter-example:
3. Myself, who used to teach adults in business about "corporate culture"
by giving them a true/false quiz, having them answer it by themselves, then pairing them up to negotiate a common answer with each other, then grouping them in fives or sixes to reach consensus on each answer. Amazingly, without my telling them anything directly, they learned the basics about what an organizational culture is and a bit about how it works. [I used to lecture first, then give the quiz. I found better results without the initial lecture.]
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