Meaningful learning demands much more efforts, time and brainstorming on the teaching as well as learning ends and it is the fundamental building block of the knowledge base of the learner. On the contrary, rote learning fails to contribute in construction of the knowledge base in the learner's mind.
The experience which I am going to share here is my learning experience of an undergraduate level course called "Analysis of Algorithms" at LUMS, Pakistan. Algorithm means the solution of a given computational problem. The instructor didn't teach "algorithms" in the classroom, rather he used to act as a facilitator to discover the "algorithms". He used to push the students to think at run time about the given scenario and establish wonderful algorithms (efficient solution ideas) with his facilitation. The algorithms which the students used to discover themselves (may be with some errors) lay down the n lasting foundation of the knowledge base as compared to those which were taught as the "ready made" algorithms. This discovery-based learning supports construction of strong concept map in the learner's mind.
This experience was really different than the conventional classroom environment. Such kind of teaching is really hard and demands lot of time and efforts to prepare, but I am personally very much convinced of the effectiveness of this methodology.
Its very interesting you wrote about 'discovery-based' learning; in my blog too I wrote of a similar experience but in a very non-technical context.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if its possible to do something like this in all technical topics --- other than this consideration, this is indeed a very effective way of teaching/learning.
The role of the teacher to design activities so that meaningful learning takes place is one of the main skills of a good teacher. It sounds like your teacher was very talented in this area, Malik. Biggs and Tang compare the learning of Susan and Robert - Susan being engaged with the learning process and involved in deep learning; Robert being a strategic learner and involved in shallow learning. Susan's learning goes with her for the rest of her life while Robert's disappears after he has sat his exam or submitted his assignment.
ReplyDeleteAs Waqar notes, perhaps the challenge for teachers of technical subjects is to find ways of engaging your students in deep learning. I look forward to reading more about this in your blog throughout the course.
Thanks for sharing this with us, Malik.