The student has the trees, but no view of the forest

http://www.aft.org/newspubs/periodicals/ae/summer2003/willingham.cfm

Numerous studies have been done to find out how people learn information presented to them. It has been discovered that we don’t necessarily remember what we are taught, but what we are thinking about when we are being taught. In the classroom, the teacher often presents organized and meaningful lessons. It is expected that the students will be able to make strong connections between the material and the conclusion. Unfortunately, that does not always happen. “Shallow learning” gets in the way of full comprehension. Meanings depend on what is being thought about when the word, equation, story, etc. is presented. For example, suppose a teacher is giving a lesson on technology and how it has affected our society both positively and negatively. Examples of different forms of technology and some of their roles/ uses in society are discussed. If the student has just entered college they may begin to think about their new laptop or Ipod and how they like it and all its features. This will lead the students thinking away from the effects of technology on society to solely thinking of their own devises, which will interrupt the learning of the actual goal of the assignment.

While reading this article I thought a lot about the meaning of things in different contexts. You can be given a phrase or term in one context and think that you completely understand it. But then if you are later asked to describe that phrase or term in your own words, you can be completely lost and have trouble trying to describe it. This is because of shallow thinking. It is not enough to just be able to recognize something. The value is in being able to recall. Recognizing doesn’t necessarily mean that you fully comprehend; it just means that you have memorized what is needed or can reiterate someone else’s definition. To recall something you have to be able to know it in different contexts and really understand it’s meaning.

Lecture classes are not a valuable way of teaching. They do not provide an enriched environment for complete comprehension of any material. As this article has described, people cannot really learn meanings from just listening. No matter how devoted to learning or concentrated you are, at times your mind will wander, its natural. When our minds wander, we attach that thinking to what we are learning even though they may not have to do with each other. So for a classroom to be successful it is necessary to have discussions, projects, or hands on activities to get students minds thinking about the meaning of something in different ways. Teachers need to work to make sure that their assignments lead students to focus on the meaning of the lesson rather than something trivially related to it.

This article was pretty interesting to read. I often connect very random things together and don’t realize how I’ve done it, and it made me feel better about that. It gives a good reminder to be active about your reading and not just read. For example taking notes or summarizing after each section of a lecture or chapter in a book is a good strategy to keep focused and remember correct meanings.

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