The book is organized simply and straightforward -- six questions the study sought to find the answers to about the "best teachers". (See previous post for summary of those.) The remaining chapters go more indepth about each question and what they found.
What do the best teachers know about how we learn?
Knowledge is constructed, not received. Like Dewey asserts, we all bring prior experiences and paradigms to a learning situation and that affects how we view what we are learning. I like the quote from Josh Billings (p. 27): "The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so much that ain't so!"
Mental models change slowly. The best teachers use questions to help students see their own mistakes in their thinking. Like I recall Vella talks about in Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach, they build "scaffolding" for their students to help bring them along the learning path. Following the concepts I've read in Vella and Dewey, Bain talks about the best teachers teaching in context.
Questions are crucial. In order to connect the information we are learning, we must have a place where it fits in our thinking. Questions help order the information to "index" it.
Caring is crucial. People learn when they have generated a question they are seeking to answer because they care about finding the answer.
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Does what you learn change your thinking? I made a note in the margin as I was reading this chapter that Calculus was that way for me. I got an A in Calculus but have no idea of how it connects with any "real-world situation."
Have you ever taken a class where you learned how to operate in the class (plug in the right answers) but have no understanding of how that connects with real life?
Absolutely! Many times, I did enough to get the grade but couldn't reteach it or apply to real life situations. I think most of us at this level of education have learned how to be a good student but does this mean we have actually learned anything?
ReplyDeleteMy book is also reinforcing the idea of scaffolding questions so previous knowledge needs to be applied, making it have relevance.
Statistics comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I use my experiences in my physics classes as an example of why I never curve the grades. Not only did I not learn anything, but I got so confused about things I thought I understood from HS that I gave up on the class and the discipline.
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I also had one student, with a very consistent low A average, who asked a really basic question towards the end of our second semester of classes. It made me realize that she could test well, but didn't really understand what I was trying to teach.
I ended up back in school in a large part because of that moment.
Margaret
Great examples and thoughts....thanks!
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