Knowledge is no burden to carry...

After my first pedagogy session I had major questions that I needed to answer; what kind of teacher am I? Can I be defined by one of these teaching styles? And what about my students? How do they learn? How should I deliver the information? I realised that while answering these questions was important, I also needed to think about how this module will develop my pedagogical approach; what kind of teacher do I want to be?

I based my teaching style thus far on my own experiences as a student. I recall my first day of college in a physics lecture feeling confident as I had “mastered” physics at leaving cert level. My confidence crumbled however as I was asked to explain a basic physics theory, and my by-rota approach to learning was challenged immediately. “Force equals mass multiplied by acceleration is a fact, but what does it mean? And why?” That “And why?” followed me for the following years of my undergraduate degree and beyond into other aspects of my life, as I learnt physics through problem based learning.

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a student-centred method of teaching in which students learn about a subject through the experience of solving an open-ended problem. Students are required to build on their existing knowledge and experiences in an attempt to solve a “real world” problem. Behind each of these problems was a physics concept that needed to be explored to solve the problem. The class was divided into groups, each group then took the lead and had to organise their approach to the problem. We divided the work between us, researched the concepts alone and they reconvened to share the information that we gathered to solve the problem as a group. The group would produce a report with the problem solved along with the theory or concept explained, and each individual’s performance was assessed by themselves and the other group members. Finally once the problem was solved, the lecturer would recap and ensure that everyone had adequate information to understand the particular concept. It is a style of learning that is driven by the student and the teacher facilitates the learning experience. It was my opinion that this was the most effective way to teach and to learn, as it is practical and relevant to everyday life. It emphasises that your understanding is limited by your ability to put theory into practice. However, during my first pedagogy session I began to challenge my own thoughts on my teaching style, and also was presented with the idea that each student is different and learns in a different way.

I had previously heard of the 3 main learning theories, Behaviourism, Cognitivism and Constructivism, but was unsure exactly how they were different. I began to associate myself with the constructivist style of teaching and in turn learning; explore and discover knowledge as a result of leaner centred study and the teacher facilitates this process. It creates opportunities to solve real world problems through self-discovery. Through the exercises during the first pedagogy session I began to re-evaluate this approach. Up to this point I had been demonstrating for fourth year physics students and the labs were all about self-directed experiments with real world applications. But now I had been given first and second year students to demonstrate and physics was not their major subject. I began to look at behaviourism and its merits for these labs; these students need to learn specific skills and they would be assessed on their performance of these skills. Their understanding of the experiments would be almost irrelevant and their execution of these tasks essential. While I understand that the students need to leave each lab session proficient in the specific skill for that week, I feel that an explanation of why they were doing the experiments may help in their understanding. I have decided that the best way to approach these labs is with a mixed approach to learning theories. While behaviourism will be the major learning theory that I will implement, I believe constructivism has a role in these labs.

Deciding on my delivery of the labs is one aspect of the planning; I also have to consider the student. The VARK model was introduced as a way to categorise the learner. Visual learners like to be shown information, auditory learners like to hear information, read/write learners understand through lecture notes and note taking and kinaesthetic learners like to learn through being hands-on. While designing a lab session to include a platform for each of the VARK learners may be challenging, I then began to explore the possibility that the VARK model may be combined in each individual. Depending on the challenge or the task we approach it in different ways to gain the knowledge and understanding we require. I have decided that I’ll try to facilitate each type of learner by gaining an understanding of the student group I have and how they respond to the information.

I have begun to identify the answers to the questions that I had when I left the classroom. My first experience with pedagogy was enjoyable and I am looking forward to the rest of the course and developing my approach to teaching. The way we teach and learn plays a vital role in the effectiveness of education and it is surprising that learning theories is not integrated into curricula throughout an individual’s educational journey. Currently I am demonstrating labs for a lectuerer to run alongside the lecture course. When I have more freedom in the design and delivery of content I would ideally like to do the VARK questionaire or a similar type of assesment to make myself and the students aware of their learning styles. I think this is invaluable information, especially for the learner; knowing what works best for yourself as an individual and understanding how you learn effectively affects all aspects of your life.

My goal for this week is to challenge and adapt my teaching style for the first and second year labs. I hope that I will be more perceptive to the type of learners in my group and deliver the required information for the students to perform the task at hand. However my constructivist underpinnings drive me to help develop an understanding, and while I have identified this as a non-essential outcome for these labs, it will give context to the experiments; knowledge is no burden to carry.