One major drawback to teaching in Christian education is the unwarrented, and often unintended, practice of setting ourselves up for inactive, non-participatory, learning. Many teachers of adults tend to shy away from challenging their class or group to participate in the learning process. This usually as a result of having made a failed attempt at an interactive activity, experiencing a numbing silence after trying to prod for more discussion, or being told, outright, that the class “just wants to listen to the teacher lecture.”
While adults need to feel they will not be embarassed in a learning situation, they won’t likely learn unless they risk participation. Any approach to teaching that perpetuates dependency on the teacher as “expert” or facilitates non-participation on the part of the learner ultimately fails and becomes ineffective in helping people learn. Learning is a participatory practice, not a passive activity.
In the book Active Learning, Mel Silberman identified eight qualities of an effective and active learning experience:
- A moderate level of content. Don’t throw in everything; be selective about what you will cover.
- A balance between affective, behavioral, and cognitive learning. All three are important but many times we tend to focus on the cognitive only.
- A variety of learning approaches. Some learners learn best by seeing, others by hearing, some by talking, and others by doing. Incorporate opportunities for all three.
- Opportunities for group participation. Learners have something valuable to share in the learning experience. Provide opportunity for, and recognize, their contributions.
- Encouraging participants to share their expertise. A good teacher works hard to move learners from passive dependent to active participants. Remember that there are no “experts” in the Christian life. Don’t convince your students that they are meant to be perpetually dependent on others for learning.
- Recycling concepts and skills learned earlier. Review what you did last week and build on it. Build on what your learners know when teaching new concepts.
- Advocating real-life problem solving. This concept bridges Scripture, or important concepts, with contemporary issues.
- Allowing time for re-entry. Help learners discuss and discover their skills and what actions they can take to incorporate what they have learned in their lives.
One of my rules about teaching is, “Never work harder than your students.” Moving toward more active learning on the part of your students is one way to follow that rule.
I have found that when you engage with the learner and they see that you desire their participation they will enter into the learning process in time. When I had the opportunity to teach in a college setting, the students did not know what to do with me at first. I would ask questions and wait on them to respond. Those wanting information for a test would look in amazement b/c they did not know what to write down. Those who wanted to dialog were too scared b/c they were always told to be quiet.
By the end of the semester I could not keep the active one’s quiet and the “test-takers” were even participating. I think being consistent in this approach is key b/c it combines affective/behavioral/cognitive domains while allowing verbal, written, and hands-on learning to take place.
Thanks, Tod. Your experience bears out what research has shown again and again: in the classroom context learners are highly dependent on the teacher. They’ll take their cues about norms, expectations, and behaviors from the teacher—-and when the teacher fails to communicate those in an overt manner early on, students may get lost.
One implication about this phenomenon, then, is that the classroom environment with its bounded roles of “teacher” and “student” may not be suited for much of what we desire in Christian education. For one thing, to maintain an exclusive classroom-oriented approach to Christian educaiton is to keep Christians perpetually dependent and perpetual “novices” in the Christian life.