If we wish to be more efficient in our teaching (which is to say, finding ways to teach more that will be remembered and be usable by the pupil in any period of time) one way forward is to follow the ideas of John Carroll whose view that virtually anyone could learn virtually anything presents us with an exciting challenge.
Carroll focused on two important concepts:
- Different pupils need to be taught in different ways.
- Different children take different amounts of time to get to a set standard.
The implication of this approach is that as teachers we should amass a range of materials and teaching techniques and adopt the most appropriate for each topic or concept and for each pupil’s individual needs. Our work will be made much easier if:
- Each topic is broken down into individual units of approximately single lesson size.
- The pupil can see success as each small unit is completed.
- The pupil learns self-initiation and self-direction in learning.
- Problem-solving is utilised as soon as possible in each teaching programme.
- Pupils are motivated to succeed.
- Progress is evaluated very frequently to make self-direction more effective.
To make this approach work we need a set of objectives which tell the pupils what they are learning and what they ought to be able to do by the end of the session, with objectives stated using words such as:
- Solve
- State
- Explain
- List
- Describe
What this reminds us is that objectives which use words like “understand”, “appreciate”, know”, and “comprehend” are difficult to examine, and thus we never know if learning is effective or not. Words like “solve”, etc, can be tested, and so we can immediately know if the child has indeed learned the point that is being taught.
Following from this…Before we do anything else we need to do two things:
- Divide the basic programme of study into a range of key areas, if this has not already been done. There should ideally be no more than a dozen or so headings. This programme of study must be structured so that when the pupil comes to a later part of the course she or he already has all the knowledge that will be needed to learn this new concept.
- Find out what the pupil knows in each area of the programme of study. We thus need a set of tests which exactly match the structured sequence in which the course is taught.
Where pupils are not permitted to progress to later activities until they prove their knowledge of earlier learning, the speed of learning may initially seem to be slower, but in reality it increases radically because all subsequent learning is securely based on earlier learning. Overall learning during the course of a year should increase by at least 25% if this approach is used without any exceptions.
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