Student Learning Centre Demonstrating and teaching skills Stuart Johnson and Kevin Byron

Key messages from today As a demonstrator you are part of a teaching team take some responsibility for students need to think about the role and consider how you are going to approach it

Course overview Reflecting on your experience How students learn The role of the demonstrator Asking questions Supporting students

Reflecting on your experience Use the handout to help you think about what it is like to learn with a demonstrator Think about how to maximise the positive features of this kind of teaching and minimise the negative features

Course overview Reflecting on your experience How students learn The role of the demonstrator Asking questions Supporting students

Understanding learning There are different approaches to teaching and learning There is a body of theoretical discussion and academic research that informs how we think about teaching and learning Thinking about educational theory can help us to improve the way in which we teach

Fill them up with facts! “Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them.” Thomas Gradgrind in Charles Dickens, Hard Times

Transmissive teaching student knowledge teacher

Tell me, show me, involve me “Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll understand.” Confucius

Kolb’s experiential learning cycle* * Adapted from: Kolb D (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the source of learning and development Having an experience Reviewing the experience Concluding from the experience Planning the next steps

For example… OW! THAT HURT I WON’T DO THAT AGAIN WHAT IF I DO THIS?

Learning styles* * Adapted from: Honey P and Mumford A (1992). The manual of learning styles Having an experience Reviewing the experience Concluding from the experience Planning the next steps PRAGMATISTS REFLECTORS THEORISTS ACTIVISTS

Preferences – prefer concrete experience (‘what would happen if…?’) – prefer reflective observation (‘let me think about this’) – prefer abstract conceptualisation (‘what’s the relationship?’) – prefer active experimentation (‘I’ll try anything once’) PRAGMATISTS REFLECTORS THEORISTS ACTIVISTS

ACTIVISTS like to be involved in new experiences open minded and enthusiastic about new ideas get bored with implementation Which one are you most like? PRAGMATISTS keen to try things out want concepts that can be applied tend to be impatient with lengthy discussions practical and down to earth REFLECTORS like to collect data and think about it carefully before coming to any conclusions. enjoy observing others and will listen to their views before offering their own THEORISTS adapt and integrate observations into theories think problems through in a step by step way tend to be detached and analytical

Bearing all that in mind… Q How does this help in your approach to demonstrating? Q What practical steps can you take to make the most of the theory? Suggestions… try and establish what knowledge exists in the room and build on it use a variety of different teaching tactics to help different learners and different kinds of learning remember that you can’t teach people against their will

Course overview Reflecting on your experience How students learn The role of the demonstrator Asking questions Supporting students

The role of the demonstrator Prepare Be pro- active Monitor working practices Assess

Course overview Reflecting on your experience How students learn The role of the demonstrator Asking questions Supporting students

Why we ask questions Active learning: doing/asking/thinking Dialogue “…we are rarely if ever ‘writing on a blank slate’, however rudimentary, or wrong, pre-existing related knowledge and understanding are.” (Fry, Ketteridge & Marshall 2003:11) Students make meaning by incorporating new information/ideas into what they already know/think

Transmissive teaching student knowledge teacher

Constructive teaching Students Knowledge Demonstrator

Why ask questions of your students? Many reasons, including: to check understanding to consolidating learning to stretch their knowledge

How not to ask questions Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, 20.00, , ITV2 This recording is to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA License

Question types Why did you make a mess of it? What does that suggest about the first sample? What else could you have done? If you were to run the test again using twice the amount of substrate would you expect a higher or lower reading? What have you done?Can you take me through the steps and results you’ve got so far? Are you OK?Did you boil the mixture for 4 minutes? Reflective Hypothetical Open Closed WorseBetterType

Course overview Reflecting on your experience How students learn The role of the demonstrator Asking questions Supporting students

Supporting students Think about your boundaries Think about it from the student perspective Access help and support Refer students to your department Refer students to central support – –

Further help Seek out a mentor Lecturer/module convenor Resources from this workshop will be held on our websiteour website Student Learning Centre individual consultations Talk to us if you need help accessing more support or training

Further information… Resources Text-based study guides, IT guides, interactive tutorials, check lists, templates and recommended links to external resources. Consultations Study skills consultations intended to complement the subject-specific guidance you receive from your department. Workshops A range of more than 20 different interactive workshops in six different study areas.