Today I caught myself in a teacher’s paradox: when asked about student learning, I instantly reacted from an external (teacher’s) perspective. Yet the question is so basic: what worked best for YOU? How did YOU learn most effectively? … But why do we educators so often think of students as different from ourselves? Anyway, here are some insights of the pedagogical session I attended:
- Learning is more effective when applied (not just in cases but e.g. in own research projects) and/or related to known situations and own experiences
- What I can teach I learn => learning is most effective when trying to explain sthg complex to others (e.g. peers/other students)
- When confronted with sthg new, it helps to turn the argument around (or look at the limitations of a concept etc.)
- An element of surprise / humour makes learning instances more memorable…
Haven’t we all heard and experienced all of this many times over? Yet when it comes to teaching, it is so easy to focus on the “important content” more than the basics…
What was YOUR best (most effective) learning experience?
Gyöngyi
