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Chapter 4 Learning and Teaching

4.4 Interaction

4.4.1 The roles and interactions of students and teachers

In making an enquiry, the learner bears the major responsibility for learning. However, given the limited level of experience, knowledge and skills that they possess, students will encounter hurdles as they start out on their learning journey. In a general sense, what teachers need to do is to facilitate student learning by providing scaffolds. They should help their students by breaking down challenging learning tasks into manageable ―chunks‖ and by indicating possible directions and means. Overall, the students remain responsible for their learning, but the teachers make it possible for students to fulfil their objectives.

Assistance from the teachers should fade as the learners‘ competence increases, so that over time the control of learning is shifted to the students. In this way, the role of teacher in the enquiry process changes from their being a facilitator to being an equal member of the learning community. Students will thus be enabled to form their own beliefs on the basis of independent reasoning rather than resorting to the views of an authority figure.

When students are quiet, a “tug-of-war” begins

The following situation happens in many classrooms. The teacher poses an open-ended question which invites students to exercise higher-order thinking and express their views in their own words, to promote further class discussion. The students put their heads down, avoiding the teacher‘s gaze, and nobody says a word.

The teacher then gives more information, and interprets it in greater detail. To try to

demanding—but the students remain silent.

The teacher then rephrases the question again and supplies further detail and interpretation—but there is still no response. This cycle continues until the teacher finally asks a low-level, closed question. A hand is raised at last, and a student gives a factual answer, or a yes-or-no response … and the topic is closed.

Professor John Elliott, an experienced educational researcher and teacher trainer, refers to this situation as a ―tug of war‖ between the students and the teacher. This happens most in classes where students are used to a didactic mode of teaching which does not require them to think for themselves and to risk giving wrong answers. When the teacher tries to shift into an interactive mode, the students resist by responding with silence. In this situation, teachers who have a low level of tolerance for silence in the class give in: the students win and the teacher shifts back to didactic teaching.

Professor Elliott advises teachers to be more persistent in encouraging students to respond. Sometimes students need more time to formulate answers; but sometimes their silence is simply due to adherence to the previous style of teaching and learning.

If the teacher is confident that the students are able to comprehend and respond to a question, it is worth spending more time waiting for a response. When the students learn that they have to accept the responsibility to participate, they will normally start to formulate answers.

The above scenario illustrates the need for better questioning techniques. Teachers should be aware of alternative ways of rephrasing the same question without compromising the level of demand. In revising a question, teachers should bear in mind that the primary aim is not to get a correct answer from the students, but to engage them in thinking and discussing.

While students can always benefit from a knowledgeable teacher, it is neither necessary, nor likely, that teachers will have detailed knowledge of all the issues in the Liberal Studies curriculum. As stated earlier, teachers of Liberal Studies take on many roles – as facilitators, information providers, consultants and learning assessors. They support enquiry by providing access to information; they fuel the enquiring mind with timely stimulation and input; and they enrich discussion, but they do not dictate its direction.

The research literature shows that, among the many possible interventions to improve learning outcomes, teacher feedback has the greatest impact. Teachers should give compliments and encouragement to reinforce students‘ positive learning outcomes, and should provide hints or suggestions to help students discover their weaknesses and improve their work. Feedback is most helpful to students when it is specific and constructive, and when it targets particular behaviour rather than seem to criticise the person. When students get their work back from their teachers, they are often eager to read or hear comments on their strengths and weaknesses, rather than just receiving a score.

Quality feedback by teachers

A teacher in St. Antonius Girls‘ College shared her experience in helping students to conduct an Independent Study in S&T (S4–5) through timely feedback which addressed students‘ strengths and weaknesses, and prompted them to move forward in their learning. Please refer to Appendix 12 on p. 173 for details.

4.4.2 Teachers’ debriefings

In Liberal Studies, students construct knowledge through diverse learning activities and interaction with a variety of materials. From individual activities, they may gain insights and new ideas, though not necessarily in an organised manner. These insights and ideas sometimes present apparently conflicting values or unrelated facts and concepts which need to be put into a proper perspective and framework to constitute real knowledge and understanding; otherwise students may become confused. Appropriate debriefings after learning activities can help students to see meanings, new perspectives and the conceptual connections across issues, to consolidate what they have learnt, and to move to the next step in learning with a clear orientation.

Debriefing after an activity can be as simple as a brief discussion to reflect on the experience and to summarise the ideas generated from it, or the request to a class to construct a concept map for the theme being discussed. (Please refer to Appendix 10 on p.

171 for a concept map drawn by a student.) Teachers can also develop a debriefing into an

The following are some hints for teachers to consider in conducting debriefings.

Debriefings should be timely. When a debriefing follows an activity immediately, there is less chance of confusion and misunderstanding.

Debriefings should be integrated into the schedule of work and given ample lesson time. (Please refer to the discussion of timetabling in Chapter 3, ―55 minutes vs. 35 minutes‖.)

In summing up activities, teachers should make reference to students‘ contributions to the activities as far as possible.

The debriefing should provide students with a few key concepts and important perspectives, or a simple framework for understanding and organising their learning experiences.

Other than consolidating the previous learning experiences, a debriefing may also aim at preparing students for further exploration of the topic or the next learning activity.

Quality debriefing to guide issue-enquiry

An S&T (S4–5) teacher in St. Antonius Girls‘ College spent a lesson on slimming as a health issue. The lesson aimed to develop students‘ ability to evaluate information and data on this issue critically. The teacher designed several learning activities for the lesson and supplemented her debriefings between the activities. Appendix 13 on p. 174 has the details.