Art of Learning

This is an interesting (albeit older) talk by Professor Jonathan Drori, visiting Professor at Bristol University (specialising in misconceptions in science and in the uses of technology for learning).  This talk has particular relevance for the way education is imparted in schools and makes some particular observations on how the education system lets our children down.

Here is a synopsis of some of his observations.

• Some questions related to science (as administered by the author) were better answered by 7 year olds than by seasoned science professionals – a conclusion that he found surprising.

• Children (in Britain & in USA) understood some scientific concepts – magnetism and gravity – better before they went to school than afterwards.  This was determined by comparing their performance before and after the teaching.

• Children get their ideas not from teachers (as teachers often think), but actually from common sense, from experience of the world around them, from all the things that go on between them and their peers and their parents.

• Experiential learning – or learning by doing is the best way to learn.  Unless children learn with their hands or with everyday objects, they do not really understand concepts.  An Exploratorium is an excellent way of teaching which breads love and passion for learning.  By working (or fiddling) with objects / concepts / environment students complement their other learnings and prior knowledge. Fiddling not a replacement to formal learning but an important part of learning.

• Children are not empty vessels. They come with their own ideas and their own theories, and unless you work with their prior knowledge, then you won’t be able to shift them. The mental models that we have as children persist into adult-hood. As adults, one of the difficult things is that when people have preconceptions of how things works, it’s quite difficult to shift our position. Poor teaching actually does more harm than good.

• Testing as is currently undertaken in schools is not designed to assess understanding. In testing the most important thing is for children to articulate their models.

Courtesy: TED