Demonstrating and teaching skills

1. Demonstrating and teaching skills Stuart Johnson and Kevin Byron

2. 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

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

4. Reflecting on your experience 5 5 3 3 3 3 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

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

6. 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

7. 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 Gradgrindin Charles Dickens, Hard Times

8. Transmissive teaching knowledge student teacher

9. 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

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

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

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

13. Preferences PRAGMATISTS REFLECTORS THEORISTS ACTIVISTS • 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’)

14. 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 • ACTIVISTS • like to be involved in new experiences • open minded and enthusiastic about new ideas • get bored with implementation • THEORISTS • adapt and integrate observations into theories • think problems through in a step by step way • tend to be detached and analytical

15. Bearing all that in mind… • 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 • How does this help in your approach to demonstrating? • What practical steps can you take to make the most of the theory?

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

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

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

19. 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

20. Transmissive teaching knowledge student teacher

21. Students Constructive teaching Knowledge Demonstrator

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

23. How not to ask questions Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, 20.00, 05.08.2004, ITV2 This recording is to be used only for educational and non-commercial purposes under the terms of the ERA License

24. Type Worse Better Question types Closed Are you OK? Did you boil the mixture for 4 minutes? Open What have you done? Can you take me through the steps and results you’ve got so far? 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? Hypothetical Reflective Why did you make a mess of it? What does that suggest about the first sample?

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

26. 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 • www.le.ac.uk/ssds • www.le.ac.uk/students

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

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