Fortunately teaching philosophies are not written in stone and I believe that is what
makes them interesting and make it easier in adapting it to the student-audience.
Learning, in my opinion is a personal experience that vastly depends on the way how information is presented. To the same information taught to a group of students, the amount of learning that it leads to depends on the factors such as their current level of understanding, ability to correlate information, enthusiasm in the class, ability to be open to new ideas and active thinking about the taught content. If any one of the above stages encounters a bottle-neck, it eventually is reflected as perceived difficulty in learning process which can mistakenly be attributed to teaching methodology. Of course, as most of the academic learning (until college) occurs in a class-room set up aided by a qualified teacher, there some amount of subjectivity introduced in the learning process at the source itself.
In my experience teaching becomes most effecting when the process of learning becomes spontaneous as student's curiosity and inquisitive nature. The advantage of teaching is that student’s curiosity can be stimulated by the teacher. I believe that a teacher can enhance learning by presenting the course information as a natural extension to the student's existing knowledge. While presenting a new content I think, enough time needs to be given in the student firstly, to promote logical thinking about its need and application, and secondly to promote student’s thinking and understanding to correlate and processes the taught content.
I understand that the best way to learn is to implement the acquired information in
practice such as experimental labs, real-world examples etc. However, in many cases that might not be feasible, for such topics learning can be enhanced by revisiting the topic frequently, by connecting the new information with existing knowledge, by sharing the knowledge with peers, making journal entries of a personal point view about the learnt topic. Having known about the learning process, in my teaching I would like to makes sure that the teaching style I choose preferable involves a student-oriented approach to revisit the newly gathered information.
Keeping all the above in mind, I do not underestimate the role of keeping the learning environment open to criticism and constructive feed-back from my students. After all learning is best if it is done in a peer-like environment with an ‘experienced’ peer (teacher) besides them to facilitate the learning.
makes them interesting and make it easier in adapting it to the student-audience.
Learning, in my opinion is a personal experience that vastly depends on the way how information is presented. To the same information taught to a group of students, the amount of learning that it leads to depends on the factors such as their current level of understanding, ability to correlate information, enthusiasm in the class, ability to be open to new ideas and active thinking about the taught content. If any one of the above stages encounters a bottle-neck, it eventually is reflected as perceived difficulty in learning process which can mistakenly be attributed to teaching methodology. Of course, as most of the academic learning (until college) occurs in a class-room set up aided by a qualified teacher, there some amount of subjectivity introduced in the learning process at the source itself.
In my experience teaching becomes most effecting when the process of learning becomes spontaneous as student's curiosity and inquisitive nature. The advantage of teaching is that student’s curiosity can be stimulated by the teacher. I believe that a teacher can enhance learning by presenting the course information as a natural extension to the student's existing knowledge. While presenting a new content I think, enough time needs to be given in the student firstly, to promote logical thinking about its need and application, and secondly to promote student’s thinking and understanding to correlate and processes the taught content.
I understand that the best way to learn is to implement the acquired information in
practice such as experimental labs, real-world examples etc. However, in many cases that might not be feasible, for such topics learning can be enhanced by revisiting the topic frequently, by connecting the new information with existing knowledge, by sharing the knowledge with peers, making journal entries of a personal point view about the learnt topic. Having known about the learning process, in my teaching I would like to makes sure that the teaching style I choose preferable involves a student-oriented approach to revisit the newly gathered information.
Keeping all the above in mind, I do not underestimate the role of keeping the learning environment open to criticism and constructive feed-back from my students. After all learning is best if it is done in a peer-like environment with an ‘experienced’ peer (teacher) besides them to facilitate the learning.
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