Compare & Contrast Three Different Teaching
Methodologies:
Academic, Behavioral, and Procedural Expectations
The first thing to notice in all three examples is how the
instructor has clearly developed an environment of expectations that the
students are held to. In each teaching
methodology, the students clearly understand what is expected of them as well
as the procedures of the class room.
Even in the Chinese example—though it is spoken in a language that I cannot
understand—it is extremely clear that the instructor has created an environment
of expectations that the students are now accustomed to. In all cases,
procedures are clear and concise, and the students are prompted for responses which
both test as well as develop their memorization and qualitative comprehension of
the material.
Setting High Performance Expectations
Amongst My Students
I felt there are extremely
valuable practices that each example showed.
The STEM method flawlessly simulated what it is like to try and solve a
real world problem as part of a team—with each member being given a realistic
role, and having to accept trade-offs with limited resources. This kind of interactive learning in a team
setting is absolutely vital education system since it prepares the student to
work in a very real world situation. So
not only is the physics lesson being reinforced, but also necessary social,
technological, language, and
higher-order problem solving skills are being trained at the same time.
The Chinese method of constantly
rehearsing the student in concepts and constantly demanding interactive
repetition of key concepts is also critical.
The days of lecturing, note taking, assigning homework, and test taking
is something we teachers need to leave in the past. The more interactive the learning—the more the
student is prompted for responses which demonstrate their understanding of the
material—the more effectively the information is retained. It is no secret that the more successful
teachers always require frequent responses from their students.
And this can be said of the “Full
Brain” or sometimes called “Power Teaching” methodology as well. Extensive studies have shown that babies can
learn language much, much faster with sign language. Incorporating kinesthetic actions, in
connection to key concepts, helps the student to retain key information far
more effectively. Adding a cheesy “jingle”
to go with the kinesthetic has also been proven to serve the same purpose. I also noticed how the “Full Brain” method
ensures that students are not allowed
to drift off and not pay attention. Since
if they do so, it will be immediately obvious by their lack of kinesthetic
interaction—which allows the instructor to set up a reward / punishment system
based on paying attention in class and physically responding to verbal ques.
