In class we have been pursuing the TOK curriculum in a straightforward way, looking first at the Knower, then at the four Ways of Knowing. In doing this we have also tried different strategies of learning. For example, we have had whole class discussion and small group discussion. We have tried different activities. We have scripted contributions to break out of a teacher-centered pattern of discussion. We have divided topics in small groups and had students teach other students. We have looked at brief videos. We have done in-class writing. We have used the blog.
I have consciously avoided lecturing.
But what works best for you? My own sense is that cooperative group work is the most worthwhile strategy, students teaching and learning from other students. Students talking to students. The IB mission statement, as well as the Marymount Goals and Criteria, speak of fostering lifelong learners, and so my desire is that we have activities that help you learn how to learn, how to work with others, how to think critically, how to dialogue sincerely and openly, how to listen tolerantly.
These skills are marks of an authentically educated person, someone unafraid to examine another point of view, someone who will actually seek out another point of view. Where these skills are lacking there is a lack of education. What usually takes their place is arrogant and insecure dogmatism that will seek to intimidate others into thoughtless and silent conformity.
There are many cheerleaders of conformity.
In a university you will not be immersed in games and poster-making, as fun and worthwhile as these can be. You may even find an authoritarian manner of teaching or managing that can quickly stifle a community: individual participation is not encouraged or it is rigidly controlled and censored. In many leading schools, however, cooperative or collaborative groups are an integral part of the educational experience. The University of Illinois at Chicago and Harvard Business School, to cite two examples, both use and promote study groups. Many law schools assign or encourage study groups, for they are effective and lessen anxiety. In life we will most likely be working and learning in a group. Why not learn how to do it well?
So what works best for you? In your entry could you speak about what learning strategy works best for you personally. Look at what your classmates have written and, if possible, take this into account in your own comment. Please do not feel you have to agree with me!!!!!
the learning strategy that i think works best for me, and so that I learn most from is the study group. Not the small groups made up of 3-4 people, but the big group which involves the whole class interacting. I find that this way i can hear many more opinions than when I'm conversing with only 2 or 3 other people. Listening and participating with the entire class allows me to learn more about how other people think, and what they use to back up their answers. I feel this is the best learning strategy for me because conversing with MANY others is more resourceful.
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ReplyDeleteSurely there are many ways in which one can learn, and each one of us have different views and opinions. For each year passed at Marymount i have noticed that teachers try new methods in order for the students to acknowledge faster and facilitate their way of learning. In most classes, are head is opened and filled with new materials, which, most of the time we don't understand, but we just memorize. Yet, in many other classes, the technique of working as one big group has made things easier. The ideas of others, stay in my mind easier as i remember the faces of each student and i associate to a specific thing i have learned. I am also a visual learner, and therefore presentations, poster and all other creative things help me remember and assimilate better.
ReplyDeletePersonally for me, I might have to say that I study best in a big discussion with many people interacting. Therefore, I can understand many other people's opinions and I can agree, or yet disagree, with the matter and by doing this, everyone can understand what my opinion is on the matter, instead of just a couple of my classmates listening to my thoughts on the subject or discussion. I preferably like activities which include "doing an action" such as making posters, presentations of any sort. I Enjoy them and I believe it's a good way to make the class more lively or interactive, to make it more as a fun experience whilst learning new material for the class.
ReplyDeletePersonally I adapt to each way of learning, whether it may be boring or not, I tend to remember maybe only the key ideas. The method with which I learn the best is by actually recieving and giving information from and to other students. This method is more likely to work in small groups although attempting a big class discussion would have interesting results. Using this way I remember better the details and the information. Also watching videos is a good technique for me to learn concepts better, since I am majorly a visual learner.
ReplyDeleteSeveral learning strategies work for me, and it really depends on the situation. In some situations I study better by myself, looking over notes and reading material; in other situations, studying and learning in a group and discussing and debating helps me absorb the material. Other times, obviously, the teacher explaining and giving us notes on the board helps, since it combines both visual and auditory learning. One of the learning techniques I like best is using acronyms to help me memorize things.
ReplyDeleteThe learning strategy I personally prefer is that of working in groups. I find myself at ease when I'm in a group, because I have the confidence that whatever subject we find ourself in, the knowledge we have to acquire will find its way. This for the simple reason that interacting with one another opens our minds to all the person's ideas and opinions, creating in this way, a very big general view of what is being discussed.
ReplyDeleteThis is why I actually really enjoyed the first TOK class sessions, where we had class interactions in which everyone could participate and express their opinion.
I learned a lot from those classes, and look forward to do so in the future.
I feel group discussion is the best way to learn because generally when ideas clash, they tend to reemerge as one single and more correct idea. However I feel the arguments discussed in our lessons are too specific and too easy to agree on which causes a lack of debating. I think we should engage in more heated arguments as that, in my opinion, would spark more debate and be more interesting.
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The learning strategy i personally prefer is working in a large group just as many have said. When people work in a group of about 20 people they are able to learn diffrent opinions as well as contradicting the opinion they dislike. Personally when i learn a new topic i have to be able to express the topic and after i will be able to understand it. When i don't understand the topic i might contradict it which may result in a better understanding of the topic, since i can't prove my contradiction. For example when we're discussing different arguments during our TOK class we have to prove our points as well as adding to or contradicting other people's opinions which will result in a better undertsanding of the topic, since information won't be absorbed but it will be repeated by the student.
ReplyDeleteI have tried many different leanly methods and i find that, working with other people really helps me to understand the material well. When i am studying and someone asks me to help them study. i think it is the asking each other questions that makes the information stay in my mind. Whereas while just sitting down and reading the information i get distracted and the end result is me not remembering anything. So to conclude i believe that working with other people to study information is the best way for me to learn information, and study it well. Another way that helps me remember things is by writing them down and then saying them out loud over and over again, but as much as this helps I don’t like doing it.
ReplyDeleteIt depends what subject were talking about, because the methods of studying vary for each individual subject. However, for our TOK class, I agree with people above, in that the large study group is the best way to learn. I feel that in a large group, all facing each other, we are somehow 'forced' to focus and give our opinion. This means that you need to think about what were talking about and therefore develop a personal opinion. You are also listening to many people's opinion, not just the two or three people in the small groups. This therefore helps in building your own opinion too, whether it be agreeing or disagreeing. Activities also help me in memorizing points, since I remember physical material, such as posters. However, since in college this kind of 'entertaining' method of work doesn't exist, then maybe it's better not to do it.
ReplyDeleteThere are several different learning strategies out there in the educational and academic world. Although we find great variety in these strategies, (such as studying alone vs. studying in a large group) we are able to understand the special qualities each one of them contains. I think a learning strategy really just depends on the way the individual student feels most comfortable and yet challenged in his/her surroundings. I'm the kind of person who is generally able to study better alone. This in fact may be because I get distracted easily when I am around others. But, in T.O.K. I find it much more interesting to sit around in a large group and discuss as a whole class, the topics of our course. I really enjoy learning this way because it allows me to not only learn new information from other student's opinions, but to also give voice to my opinions and let them be heard. I also really enjoy the conversations we have in class and how each of us is able to approach and perhaps agree/disagree with another pupil's logic (which further advances everyone's perspective). I am mostly a visual and auditory learner, and therefore find that the big class discussions work best for me. :) Also, by writing in my journal and keeping up on this blog helps me remember and review what we have learned in the past classes. I really enjoy blogging too, it's a very unique way to get us oriented in the theory of knowledge!
ReplyDeleteEach of us are special in our own way. We all have different ways of learning and that plays a big role in our academic life. There are emotional factors which may influence a student's learning, such as motivation, responsibility, and persistence. Students and teachers work together to reshape these factors so they can help the student success and enjoy learning more. Personally, I think that the best way of learning that adapts to me is something challenging, but comfortable at the same time; almost like a halfway between hard and easy. I have seen myself change over my school years. I have noticed how I wouldn't study something that I wouldn't be interested in and risk getting a bad grade, but studying what I was interested in and get a good grade. Now, I have learnt and forced myself to study everything that comes by me; whether I like it or not. Who knows, maybe some day the information may come in handy ! I prefer working alone, simply because I can set my own pace, choose what I want to work on first and just manage my own time according to what I want to do. This may sound selfish, but that's when I perform best. This group work doesn't seem to work for me in the other classes, but for TOK it does ! Mostly because the topics we discuss cannot be thought out and sorted through alone. It would limit me; but with other peoples' insight it would open your eyes to viewing the current discussed argument in a different light. Not only can I express myself, but I can appreciate other peoples' point of views too. I consider myself an auditory and visual learner. So DR (thank you) this blogging really helps to remember the topics we discuss in class !
ReplyDeleteThere are many different ways of learning, and we have experienced most of them in our TOK classroom. It is true that each person has his or her own way of learning, yet i have to agree with my classmates when they say that the best way is to work in a big group, with the whole of the class. It is stimulating, and interesting to hear what other people have to say on a subject. It makes it easier to be able to create a personal opinion on something after having heard what other people have to say,so that one can agree or disagree. Furthermore, i find that working as a class helps us students develop language skills and we learn how to discuss with eack other, which is a skill that comes handy in life and is often not developed in the other classes. It is better to share ideas with the whole class, so to be able to get as many different points of view as possible. In small groups the opiniions are much less, and it is more likely to think in a small box instead of getting a wide view of things. Another way of learning that i found stimulating was watching the videos, for it was interesting and different.
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ReplyDeleteWhen we converse as a large group it appears that only certain people get a say. When we work in small groups everyone has a say, but the ideas seem to be more limited in groups of 3-4. Therefore I believe that we should enlarge the groups a bit so to get a larger variety of ideas circulating the group. But the full class discussions seems to discourage people from expressing their ideas.
ReplyDeleteEvery individual has different ways of learning. As a student in MMI I have notices that teachers try to facilitate our studying by teaching us new methods of learning but, almost every time, students keep their own method. The most common method in students is just memorizing the topic without understanding it, even thought it's wrong.
ReplyDeleteGinevra Pier